World News 18-12-2000 Bush Appoints African Americans To Cabinet who: George W Bush what: Names Condoleezza Rice as NSA chief where: Washington DC when: Yesterday snippet: "President-elect George W. Bush forged ahead with his preparations for the US presidency by announcing his senior White House staff on Sunday," reports The Financial Times, "confirming that Condoleezza Rice would serve as his national security adviser." 46-year-old Dr Rice, a former adviser to the Reagan and Bush administrations whom Mr Bush described as "a brilliant, experienced person who is also a good manager," is an African American and will be the first woman to occupy the post. A child prodigy, Dr Rice "felt the sting of racism, being forced to go to a segregated school in Alabama," says The Times, before going to university at 15 and graduating at 19. "The president-elect made no attempt to conceal the symbolic nature of the selections," writes Michael Ellison in The Guardian. "I think it`s going to be dramatic to name African-Americans to positions of power," he told Time magazine, "because that signals George W looks at people for who they are and not based upon how they voted. Those who did not vote for me may not like it initially but I am their president." The appointment comes just 24 hours after General Colin Powell was named as the first black secretary of state. [... more]

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