Page 38 - Palma News Today

>> in fact, he wrote two speeches, one in which he was going to announce his intention to run for the presidency, that he was going to deliver to his beloved alma mater, city college of new york, and one he announced he was not going to run. in the end, he delivered the second speech saying running for office was not for him. theres his widow, who also suffered from covid as did her late husband. thankfully it was very brief. general, you know alma powell. >> my wife remembers because she was in...

Trailblazing american patriot, a warrior, a diplomat. the first black chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. the first black secretary of state, colin powell. his former deputy and close friend, richard armitage -- who talked to powell every day for decades -- says it was always about family. >> never in 40 years do i recall his ever failing to either start or end his day by telling what alma was doing, what michael and jane were doing, what linda was doing, and what anne marie and francis were ...

Intimate way that i hope gave comfort to them the same way it gave comfort to me and many people who watched it. >> peter baker, i know you spoke with a top republican who had conversations with colin powell in the last weeks before his death, tell us about that. >> yeah, we talk here about the family and how powerful that was as part of the service. i did talk to -- talked to someone who had talked to general powell, he said he was optimistic, the parkinsons bothered him, the tremble in his man...

Reflected by the people in the audience here at the national cathedral today. we saw susan rice, jake sullivan as we see i believe members of the secretarys family preparing to take their seats. colonel jack, i wonder if you could talk about the incredible relationship secretary powell had with his wife, wife alma. married in 1962. tease are the grandchildren. his son michael will deliver a tribute. his daughter doing a read. give us insight into the roin that the kids and grand kids had with th...

Out. we expect we might see his widow, alma, any minute. gloria borger, what are your thoughts watching this? >> i remember talking to colin powell back in 1995 when everyone wanted to recruit him to run for the presidency. what was so extraordinary -- of course its kind of hard to turn people down when everybody seems to be saying youve got to run. and i had this conversation with him where he pointed to the stars on his shoulder and said, you know what? people have to listen to me because i ha...

Loving home, anchored by our strong and graceful mother alma. >> reporter: madeleine albright, powells predecessor at state, joked that powell was a lot more popular than she was, saying he was not only incredibly cool but a remarkable leader. >> i sat in many meetings with colin where i could almost hear his eyes roll. when it was his turn to speak, he was brilliant at bringing over-the-moon claims down to earth and distilling what truly mattered. from what did not. >> reporter: michael powell ...

Was the best person he ever met? he said unequivocally alma powell. >> good answer. >> we learned from that. >> truly sincere, though. i think he really meant that. >> i think thats right. and, you know, i only got to meet colin powell once, and it was one of the first times i came to cnn. and there he was in the green room. he was one of the people who my parents alles admired more than anyone, someone people believed could be the first black president and wanted to be the first black president...

Did. and i dont think this was the first time he had pulled this on people. you could see sort of looking at him and hes black and hes speaking yiddish, and he said, jamie, im from the bronx, of course i speak yiddish! and, again, just to go back to -- he knew how to connect to people immediately. if i could just say one thing about alma powell, they were married for 58 years. they met in 1961. they were set up on a blind date that neither one of them wanted to go to. and alma wore weird clothin...

Calling and word. these were the same traits he saw tirelessly to instill in the soldiers under his command, the diplomat he led, the colleagues with whom he worked, the readers of his books, the audiences that flocked to his speeches, the students of the powell school for civic and global leadership and the thousands of young people who benefited from the americas promise alliance that alma and he championed. he relished the opportunity to connect with other generations, and its always the righ...

And with pointed correction that would stay with you for the rest of your life. thats what he was all about, he was serious about being serious. and he was an awfully nice guy on top of it. >> and colonel jack, i wonder too if you can speak to peters lovely anecdote, even in his final days, final weeks, secretary powell was focused on the woman who had been his partner for five plus decades, focused on alma and her health and how she was doing. thats where his concern and his focus was. >> well,...