Colin Powell net worth
Number of divisions: 15
What is Colin Powell’s net worth?
Colin Powell was an American politician and a retired four-star general in the U.S. Army. At the time of his death in October 2021, his net worth was $60 million. Colin Powell served as the US Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005-the first African-American to do so. Before that, he served as National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Because of Powell’s wrong defense of the 2003 Iraq War, Powell’s term as Secretary of State under the leadership of George W. Bush caused great controversy.
After retiring from the military in the early 1990s, Colin initially made a fortune from speaking activities. In 2000 alone, he earned 7 million U.S. dollars through 109 speech activities, and the average fee for each speech was about 64,000 U.S. dollars, but he charged more than 100,000 U.S. dollars on a regular basis. He received an advance payment of $6 million for his autobiography “My Journey to America” in 1995.
In 2001, before being recognized as Secretary of State, Colin’s financial statements showed that he was worth approximately $28 million at the time. After adjusting for inflation, this is the same as today’s US$42 million.
Early life and military career
Colin Powell was born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York in 1937. His parents, Jamaican immigrants Maud and Luther, are of African and Scottish descent. Powell grew up in the South Bronx, attended Morris High School, and worked in a local store selling baby furniture. Later, he studied at the City College of New York and graduated in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in geology. While in college, Powell joined the reserve officer training regiment; after graduation, he was appointed as a second lieutenant, and was subsequently assigned to the 48th Infantry Regiment as the platoon commander of West Germany.
From 1962 to 1963, Powell visited Vietnam as an adviser to the South Vietnamese Army. He returned as a major in 1968 and served as Assistant Chief of Staff of the 23rd Infantry Division. In the second tour, Powell was awarded the Valorous Soldier Medal after surviving the helicopter crash and rescuing three other people from the wreckage. After returning to the United States, he studied at George Washington University and obtained an MBA in 1971.
Early political career
Under the leadership of Richard Nixon, Powell served on a White House scholarship from 1972 to 1973. From 1975 to 1976, he attended the National War College in Washington, DC. In the early 1980s, Powell served in Fort Kasem, Colorado, and then became a senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberg. Later, in 1987, he served as Deputy National Security Advisor for the United States under Frank Carlucci. After the Iran Gate scandal, Powell was appointed as Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser, serving until 1989. He was then promoted to a four-star general under George HW Bush and briefly served as the commander-in-chief of the Fort McPherson Force Command, Georgia.
From 1989 to 1993, Powell’s last military mission was to serve as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; he was the youngest military officer and the first African-American to hold that position. During his tenure, Powell oversaw 28 crises, including the invasion of Panama and Operation Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War. Although Powell continued to serve as chairman during Clinton’s presidency, he increasingly felt that he was inappropriate and clashed with United Nations Ambassador Madeleine Albright and Secretary of Defense Leslie Aspin. He finally resigned in early 1993.
Entrepreneurial spirit
In 1997, Powell founded the American Alliance of Commitments, which is the largest cross-departmental alliance in the United States, composed of non-profit organizations, businesses, and government groups dedicated to improving the lives of young people. In the same year, he established the Colin Powell Leadership and Service Center at the City College of New York. The goal of the center is to train leaders from underrepresented populations, promote civic participation in the college, and mobilize campus resources to meet the needs of the community and the wider public.
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Secretary of State
In 2001, Powell was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 65th Secretary of State and was the first African-American to hold this position. After the 9/11 attacks, he played an important role in establishing the argument for the invasion of Iraq and supported the Bush administration’s decision to remove the dictator Saddam Hussein. At the 2003 UN Security Council plenary meeting, he advocated military action, falsely claiming that Hussein had and is continuing to produce biological weapons of war.
After overthrowing Hussein, Powell worked to build an international coalition to rebuild Iraq. Later, shortly after Bush was re-elected in November 2004, he announced his resignation and was replaced by Condoleezza Rice.
Life after diplomacy
After retirement, Powell returned to private life. In 2005, he joined Kleiner Perkins, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, as a strategic partner. The following year, he began to speak as part of the “Get Momentum” series of incentive activities, often criticizing the Bush administration. Later, he joined the board of Revolution Health Company and served as a spokesperson for the National Mentor Month event, which is dedicated to recruiting mentors for young people at risk.
Views on the state of the Republican Party
Powell has always bluntly stated that he increasingly dislikes the Republican Party and its marginal extremist movement. He condemned the 2016 Republican primary election and supported Hillary Clinton; four years later, he voted for President Joe Biden. In 2021, after an attempted right-wing rebellion in the U.S. Capitol, Powell left the Republican Party to become an independent.
Personal life and honor
In 1962, Powell married audiologist Alma Johnson. They have three children: daughters Linda and Annemarie, and son Michael, who served as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2001 to 2005.
Powell has won numerous U.S. and foreign military honors. His civilian awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal, Presidential Citizenship Medal, and the Secretary of Energy’s Distinguished Service Medal. In addition, Powell also holds honorary degrees from many universities across the country.
Colin Powell died of complications from COVID-19 on October 19, 2021, at the age of 84.
