Condoleezza Rice entered the National Security as the Director of Soviet and Near Eastern Affairs during a pivotal point in time. The “Soviet” entity she was supposed to engage with was falling apart rapidly and the Cold War was at an end, which made her expertise all the more valuable. Rice was the point-woman for George W. Bush at a critical flux in the power between the two nations, and advised Bush on matters of foreign policy long before that, when he was still governor of Texas. Those qualities made her perfect for the role she was given next.

On this day, January 26, 2005, Condoleezza Rice was officially sworn in as the 66th Secretary of State, replacing the outgoing Colin Powell. She also became the first black woman to hold the post – Powell was the first black man.

If anything, the transition from national security adviser to Secretary of State brought Rice closer to the inside circle of Bush’s advisers. She had his ear during the run-up to the Iraq war: it was her argument that Iraq was acquiring weapons of mass destruction that made the case to go to war against Saddam Hussein. For her trusted role within the Bush administration, Forbes magazine named her “the most powerful woman in the world” in 2005.