Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, appearing at Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium on Tuesday evening, displayed the charm, wit, straight talk and toughness that made him a trusted adviser to presidents and a formidable diplomat.
An audience of 2,500 listened as the 74-year-old retired four-star general who was national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff presented “Diplomacy: Persuasion, Trust and Values.”
The main message of his casual address: The world still looks to America for answers in times of crisis.
“America still is the leader,” Powell said.
Powell also found time to discuss his love for his Chevrolet Corvette, his passion for education and his life as a retired soldier and Cabinet member.
Or as he put it: Just another guy.
“One day you're the No. 1 diplomat of the free world,” Powell said. “The next day you're out.”
Later he joked, “I miss my airplane.”
He was a soldier for 35 years. His autobiography was a best-seller. But Powell and his wife of 49 years, Alma, share a passion for educating young people.
In 1997, Powell founded America's Promise Alliance, a public and private partnership of more than 400 organizations.
He outlined its promises: getting responsible adults in children's lives; creating safe places for after school; health care (Powell called the millions of people uninsured in the U.S. “a national disgrace”); achieving marketable skills through education; and real economic opportunities.
He said demographic changes will see minorities become the majority “in a generation.”
“We can't afford not to educate that minority population,” he said.
Though he is a partner in a Silicon Valley venture capital company, Powell joked that his oldest grandson has helped him with the challenges of the Twitter and Facebook generation.
But he was much more serious about the way technology shapes the world.
“The information revolution has flattened the world for us,” he said. “I'm desperately trying to keep up with how the world is changing.”
Powell addressed the unrest in the Middle East, Egypt and Libya, advising everyone “to step back.” He added that American leaders must focus on economic growth and creation of wealth at home, saying to fail at that task poses a greater threat in the long run.
About military intervention in Libya, Powell expressed “concern that we've chosen a side.”
“We're on the side of the revolutionaries,” he said.
What happens after the battles when “all the institutions collapse” will be the real challenge of Libya, he added.
The funniest moment of the night came when Powell recounted a trip to the Soviet Union at the behest of President Ronald Reagan near the end of the Cold War. He found himself on the receiving end of a tirade from President Mikhail Gorbachev as they sat eye-to-eye across a table.
Powell admitted he caught himself thinking, “I don't care what you say — you're still a commie.”
“He was having a bad century,” Powell said.
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Libya mission, causing a growing backlash in Congress.
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