Read My Pins

By Ruth Walker

Spring 2014

photo: John Bigelow Taylor

Madeleine Korbel Albright ’59 was not only the first female secretary of state but also the first top diplomat to turn jewelry into a communication tool. “[I]t would never have happened if not for Saddam Hussein,” she wrote in her book, Read My Pins: Stories From a Diplomat’s Jewel Box. In 1994, while still serving as US ambassador to the United Nations, she criticized the Iraqi leader’s behavior and drew a sharp response: The government-controlled press published a poem calling her, among other things, “an unparalleled serpent.” Soon after, for a meeting with Iraqi officials, she wore a brooch in the form of a serpent. As the TV cameras zoomed in, she related, she smiled and called the pin just her way of “sending a message.”

It was to be the first of many such messages sent via a wide array of pins and brooches over her diplomatic career. Now an exhibition drawn from her collection will be on view at the Davis Museum from June 9 through July 20. Admission is free for alumnae who register with their name and class year. Timed tickets are required, and advance booking online is strongly advised.

This lovely “Blue Bird,” by Anton Lachmann of Austria, ca. 1880, of 14-karat yellow gold, silver, and enamel, with rubies and diamonds, figured in Albright’s second attempt to send a message via jewelry. In February 1996, she wore the pin, with its head pointing down, to a press conference where she expressed her anger and sadness after Cuban fighter pilots shot down two unarmed civilian aircraft over international waters between Florida and Cuba.

John Bigelow Taylor
“I was proud to be the first woman to serve as secretary of state. ... This is a pin showing the glass ceiling in its ideal condition: shattered.” The pin, called “Breaking the Glass Ceiling,” was made around 1997 by American artist Vivian Shimoyama, of dichroic and painted glass.
“Diplomatic negotiations often proceeded more slowly than hoped,” Albright wrote in her memoir-cum-art book. “I stocked up on turtles to signify my impatience and wore the crab when aggravated.” The crab pin pictured here was made in France ca. 1999, of yellow gold–plated base metal, copper, crystals, and resin.
This serpent had been in her collection for years before she decided to wear it to her meeting with Iraqi officials. Made in about 1860 by an unknown designer, it is of 18-karat yellow gold, with a diamond in its mouth.
This peace dove, ca. 1997, by Cécile et Jeanne of France, was a gift from Leah Rabin, widow of
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Among Albright’s favorites, the pin symbolizes the goal—peace in the Holy Land—“for which the prime minister had given his life,” she wrote.
"Because I am by nature a worried optimist (as opposed to a contented pessimist), I found many opportunities to wear my brooch of a brilliantly shining sun,” Albright wrote. This “Sunburst,” of gilded brass, was made in 1987 by Hervé van der Straeten of France.