How Colin Powell Wanted The World To Remember Him

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2021

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

When Colin Powell died on October 18 at the age of 84 from COVID-19 complications, he left behind a long, decorated career in Washington and the U.S. Army. He spent much of his life in the military, eventually rising to the rank of four-star general, and went on to become the first Black Secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs. But, as he discussed in a 2012 interview with NPR's Robert Siegel about his memoir It Worked For Me, Powell's reputation was tarnished when he used faulty evidence to push for the Iraq War: "I'll never leave it behind."

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong.
0:05.7	Colin Powell held an enormous place in Washington.
0:08.8	He was a four-star general, the first black secretary of state, and for years, one of the most
0:14.0	trusted voices in politics.
0:16.1	He was also the one tasked with making the case for the Iraq war, using, let's call it, bad intelligence,
0:22.5	that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Powell's word pushed public opinion in
0:27.4	support of the war at the time, but it also tarnished his legacy of pathbreaking service.
0:33.2	Powell died Monday at 84 years old, and this interview from 2012 with NPR's Robert Siegel
0:39.4	catches him at this interesting time. Powell had just written a memoir called It Worked for Me,
0:45.3	and you can hear him gingerly approach the Iraq war with the benefit of a few years hindsight.
0:50.9	Here's the interview. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:56.8	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:01.3	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:03.3	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:07.1	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:10.7	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:16.9	Colin Powell has a new book out. It's called It Worked for Me in Life and Leadership.
1:22.3	It's a mix of lessons learned, anecdotes, tales from the life of the professional public speaker,
1:27.1	right down to what's
1:27.8	wrong with the modern business hotel. And it also includes some candid reflection on the most
1:31.9	controversial moments in General Powell's career, the lead-up to the war in Iraq, and his
1:36.0	presentation to the UN Security Council on evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
	...

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