Madeleine Albright Interviewed at the Aspen Ideas Festival 2020

The Aspen Ideas Festival is one of the most important annual events for leaders around the world where many of the ideas and issues that shape our lives and challenge our times are discussed. Through the festival, The Aspen Institute seeks to engage a wider audience in these debates. This year’s edition took place from June 28th to July 2nd in online format.

During this year’s festival, leaders such as Bill Gates (Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) or Mitt Romney (Republican Senator) shared innovative ideas on a variety of topics, including art, science, economics, the diplomacy and the current situation in which our society finds itself.

Specifically, on June 30th, while issues related to a possible vaccine for Covid-19 and the role of the United States in a “completely new world” were being discussed, the Aspen Ideas Festival had the honor of hosting Madeleine Albright , former US Secretary of State.

Madeleine Albright had a conversation with Ambassador Nicholas Burns about her life and her new book ¨Hell and Other Destinations: a 21st Century Memoir.¨ The former Secretary of State spoke of her childhood in London at the beginning of World War II, her journey as a refugee from Czechoslovakia to the US and her long career as an American diplomat.

During their conversation, Madeleine Albright and Nicholas Burns also addressed current issues such as, for example, the threats facing modern democracies and the role of the United States in what she calls “the new world”. They also commented on the characteristics of nationalism, the leadership of President Donald Trump in the face of the pandemic and the economic crisis, and the challenge of collaborating and competing with China.

In conclusion, Secretary Albright shared how she faces the world’s problems with insistence and determination. Self declaring herself a cautious optimist, Madeleine encouraged the audience to face the new times in which we have to live with this positive vision.