General Colin Powell: The Story of the Man Behind the Stars

On this episode of Our American Stories, General Colin Powell was the youngest and the nation's first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the US Military. He was also the first black man appointed Secretary of State, the world's leading diplomat. The world saw him as a military leader, a diplomat, a senior statesman, and an advocate for young people. To friends and family, he was so much more. Leslie Lautenslager is the author of My Time with General Colin Powell: Stories of Kindness, Diplomacy, and Protocol.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. General Colin Powell
was the youngest and the nation's first black chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the
US military. He was also the first black man appointed
Secretary of State, the world's leading diplomat. The world saw

(00:30):
him as a military leader, diplomat, senior statesman, and an
advocate for young people. But to friends and family, he
was so much more. We have one of those friends
here to share some of the stories about the General.
Let's take a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm Leslie Laudensliger, and I have recently written a book
called My Time with General Colin Powell, Stories of Kindness,
Diplomacy and Protocol, and in essence, it's a memoir of
my twenty five over twenty five years serving beside him,
mostly on the international speaking circuit, but also with him

(01:07):
at the State Department. And in July of twenty sixteen,
the pals were in the Hamptons on vacation and I
was in Atlanta, Georgia for my annual conference. On this
particular day, we were gathered for a plenary session focused
on state funerals. We were at Ebenezer Baptist Church, and

(01:32):
the plinary was taking place in the fellowsh Paul while
I was doing something that I preach on for everybody else,
do not look at your cell phone when you are
in an event, at a show, whatever, do not look
at your cell phone. However, I was in the back
of the room and General Powell was texting me naughty

(01:54):
as I was. I looked at it and reminded him
where I was. He knewhe I was, you know, at
the conference, but he at that moment did not realize
I was in Fellowship Paul of Ebenezer Baptist Church, which,
to put in a context, that, of course, is where
Martin Luther King was a co pastor, and also that
was where his funeral had taken place, and for us
to be having a state funeral plenary session there, it

(02:16):
was very specific and very very meaningful. So I reminded
the General, you know, basically, don't bother me. Quit texting me.
I'm here for this plenary session. And a moment went
by and he texted back and he said little Bird,
one of his nicknames for me, Little Bird, you do
realize you'll be doing that for me one day, don't you?

(02:39):
And I froze I felt the blood drained from my face.
I broke out in a cold sweat. I teared up,
of course, and he then texted right away and he said,
you know, let'slie. You're not surprised by this, are you?
And I admitted in a quick text back, and I said, well, okay,
maybe I'm not surprised, but why are we talking about

(03:00):
this? This is that something we need to talk about while
He then went on and did its normal bullet list
of no, where you will use Gawler's funeral home when
it happens, which in the end we did. We will
not have the service at Saint John's Episcopal Church, which
was his local church there in McLean, Virginia. We won't
have it there because I realized that it's probably too small.

(03:21):
We will not have it at the National Cathedral in Washington.
It is too big and too important. And I will
be buried, of course at early in to National Cemetery,
but not near the eternal flame, not near the tomb
of the end soldier. I want to be buried down

(03:42):
with the troops. Now. In the end, we did use
Scholar's funeral home. We negated his thought not to have
it at the National cathedral. In the end, that was
the appropriate place. And he is in fact buried down
with the troops. And if you look at his tombstone,

(04:02):
it is a very basic tombstone. He had many very
important titles that could have been on the tombstone, but
it's not. It is the simple soldier. So that was
that was a sobering moment in twenty sixteen to be
faced with this, and he did say at the time,
texted the time, Okay, we'll talk about this. I realize

(04:24):
we'll have talk about right now, but we'll talk about
We'll have an ongoing conversation about it. We never talked
about it again. So my over a quarter century with
General Palm started out very serendipitously. As I said, I
had had a career in protocol during the Reagan administration.
So it was soon after I graduated from college I

(04:44):
fell into a job at the State Department with Lukie
Roosevelt as the chief of Protocol. So at the end
of the Reagan administration, my job ended when his administration ended,
but I had gone on to do other things in protocol.
I worked with the Battle Normany Foundation, and then in
April of nineteen ninety sixth out of the blue, I

(05:07):
get a phone call from a friend of mine saying,
there's this job with my name on it with the
Washington speakers barrel, with somebody to take care of in
essence the Golden Goose, one of the world's most popular
speakers on the international speaking circuit, I e. General Colin Powell,
And sure enough I was offered the job. And the world,

(05:31):
you know, if this were on camera, I would demonstrate
by saying, the world knew him as a military leader,
and I would put my hand to my forehead in
a salute. And then I would also say, the world
do him is a diplomat, and I would put my
hand over my heart. That's what the world knew from
the headlines, from the camera, from whatever. But he was

(05:51):
so much more. General Powell had been invited to present
a series of awards and a gallat dinner, a black
tied dinner with the Washington d C. And it was
at the Royal Rake, and it was after we were
at State Department, So he's back in private life, and
also presenting awards was Tom Sellick. Well, John pal and

(06:13):
I got to the VIP reception early. We worked the crowd,
the VIP reception. As soon as the General had worked
the room, it was time that he could then when
I say, escape, get out of the feeding frenzy, so
to speak, and retire to a private holding room that
had been set up for him. And then we got
word that Tom Selleck had arrived, but Tom Sellick did

(06:34):
not having Leslie. Tom Selleck was by himself and he
was in the VIP reception, and Jenna Pal realized that
he needed to seek pity, earn his friend, and Tom
Selligan and General Powell were friends, and so he said,
with Leslie go safe. Tom, just just see if he
wants to come out and hang with us in the
VIP hold room side. Jernapal knew that I was a

(06:55):
big Magnan p I fan. I had been in love
with magnanm p I since I was a teenager, so
he knew this was not a hardship for me, but
he also knew it was something that probably would make
me pledge. So I wade through the VIP perception probably
one hundred people, and sure they are Phoebe it's a
shark attack feeding on him. So I tap him on

(07:17):
the should it said, mister sell excuse me, my name
is Les Luttsager. I work with General Colin pal and
your friend. The General has has asked me to say,
would you like to join us in the whole room.
He of course absolutely, so he high tails it out
of the crowd with me go into the room. So
they're catching up whatever. Well, then we're joined by the
rest of the VIPs that are at the Hit table.

(07:39):
And again this is black tie, so the gentlemen are
in tuxedos, the ladies are in twinkly sequins and heels. Well,
one of the women who's part of the Hit table
comes in and jumps into Joe Pell's arm, calling Colin,
I'm so happy to see you, and she seeds to
tell the rest of the VIP Hit table people. Well,

(08:00):
the story that Colon saved my life. One day we
were seated at the table together at a dinner at
the White House, and I started choking on a piece
of chicken, and the General saved my life. He did
the Heimlic maneuver and sure enough I escaped death's clutches. Well,
Tom Selleck then says, well, you know what, I live

(08:22):
in fear that one day I will be at a
dinner and somebody will choke and will die because I
do not know how to do the Hemelk maneuver. Suddenly
I see the twinkle in Joa Pal's eyes and I think, oh, sugar,
I know exactly what's coming next. John Pal pass comes
Elk on the shoulder and said, Tom, tonight, your lucky knight,

(08:44):
I'm gonna teach you the Heinmic maneuver. And he looks
across at me with twinkles in his eyes and yells like,
come here.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
And you've been listening to Leslie Lutenslager tell this story
of General Colin Powell. My goodness, the part of him
being buried with the soldiers at Arlington is just well,
it's Colin Powell. Here's what his tombstone says. Colan Luther Powell,
General U. S. Army, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, April fifteenth, nineteen

(09:13):
thirty seven October eighteenth, twenty twenty one. No mention of
his service at the State Department, no mention of his
service as a chamber of the Joint Chiefs. Power was
not really what Colin Powell was after. He wanted to
be buried with his boys, with the soldiers, with the
men and women who serve the country, and that tombstone

(09:34):
says it all. When we come back more of General
Colin Powell's story here on our American stories, and we

(10:09):
continue with our American stories and with Leslie Lautenslager, and
she's the author of my time with General Colin Powell,
stories of kindness, diplomacy and protocol. Let's pick up where
we last left off.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
So I dautifully with beat red face, I have no doubt.
I hoddle over in my little high heels. Jenni pal
grabs Tom and Selk's arms, puts them around my waist,
tells Tom, no, no, do it a little tighter now.
Now you squeeze here, and he goes into great choreography
in making sure that Tom Selleck now has dutifully been

(10:48):
taught the appropriate procedure for saving alive with the Heimach
maneuver on me. My only regret is that there was
no photographer in the room who could take an official
picture of me as the dummy used to teach Tom
Savick a high look. When we first went to the

(11:10):
State Department. The Secar of State of the Unit States
of America has suddenly burst into the room and he says, okay,
I on Wednesday, so maybe this was a Monday. It's
on Wednesday. It will be my time to host the foresome,
and the foursome was the National Security forsome, which was
the Vice president in this case Vice President Cheney, sec

(11:32):
True Defense Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor. Kind of lose
a Rice and secret State, so it's going to be secta.
Powell turned to host this this monthly lunch. So he's
telling my my status because I know where's lovely and
they explain, now she's at this meeting, so what can
we do? What can we do? And take you notes?
He said, okay on Wednesday. For this lunch, I wanted

(11:56):
to be in one of the diplomatic receiving rooms of stairs.
And for those of you who don't know, the State
Department has the third largest collection of American antiques, next
to Went to tour and Colonia Williamsburg beautiful. One of
the time American history is just resplendent in the the
eighth floor dolomatical seaming rooms, and that was where we

(12:18):
did all our entertaining role For this small lunch, He's
gonna have it in one of those room. He wanted
spotless table claws and napkins. He wanted the perfect crystal
etched with the Great Seal of the United States. He
wanted the beautiful china with the Great Seal of the

(12:39):
United States, the silver every little beautiful. And then he
wanted each plate to then have the silver domey things,
as he told my staff the closures. Wanted each one
to have a silver dome. Now, my women, my staff,
they're taking fast and furious notes because he's very, very
serious about this, giving them orders, he said. And then
I want that the white staff, I want them to

(13:01):
be in black tie, and and I want everything choreographs
to at exactly the right moment they reveal at a queue.
I want them to reveal this, you know, take the
silver domes off the plates. And then I want served
peanut butter and Joey sandwich, is a white bread, a
bag of chips, a cookie, and what's that yucky chocolate

(13:27):
drink that you know, yahoo yo boo, whatever that chocolate
drink is. And I want it all in a brown
paper bag. And I want scribbled over the top of crayon,
rummy Kandy Cheney. And my staff they see. But he
was serious and Isaac the one who was most traumatized.

(13:49):
I had a cliggerfer on my staff, and she's so talented.
I think she was more traumatized than nobody else because
the idea of using a crayon to scribble on a
brown paper bag when she's used to doing dip pens ink.
And sure enough, that's what we did. So so when
it comes time for the lunchend, these very important officials
of the United States of America, they come in and

(14:10):
I've got the weight staff. We're all dressed, and we're
behind each chair, and I get the wink from the
General of the Secretary, and I cue the others and
we grabbed the silver domes Polara tada, and there's a
moment of silence, and then Chaney looks up and says,
good one, Colon, good one. So that was the General. Yes,

(14:34):
make everybody work hard, but make sure that everybody realizes
that there's there's joy in life. You know, when the
General died, he my father died when I was eight,
and which, of course, you know, nothing is like that.
But I had General pal three times longer than I
had my own debt. But it was it was devastating,

(14:57):
and I was out of tail the time got a
text from Michael the Sun, so I let I texted
Michael right back, and Michael had kindly said, lessly, you're
not to work the funeral your family and I, but
I have to. This is what I do. Let me,
this is my gift to him, and I of course

(15:18):
let everybody know about the conversation he and I had
had back in July in the text conversation from the
basement of the Evenings or Baptist Church about you know,
little bird, you'll be doing this for me one day.
So then the agreement was that, okay, they would let
me play in and help organize the funeral, but the
day of the funeral I would be seated with the

(15:39):
family and in part of the family. That was fine,
but we were able to make sure that the funeral
had very special treats in it. The military musical group
the Perussians own they incorporated dancing Queen from Abba. Jona
Papp was a big Abba fan, so Dancing Queen from
Abba was part of the musical tribute. Also Bob Marley's

(16:00):
Three Little Birds. Michael Powell, the oldest of the three
Powell children, had a reastakingly beautiful part of the service.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
My sisters and I were raised under the stars, the
stars of the story General we eulogize today. Dad was
famous for his thirteen rules. But our family life was unregimented,
no mourning, reverly or marching drills. It was a warm

(16:34):
and joyous and loving home, anchored by our strong and
graceful mother, Alma. Our parents taught us right, they taught
us wrong, and they taught us to take responsibility for
our actions and never to blame others. Disappointing them was

(16:56):
the worst punishment you could imagine. The example of Colin
Powell does not call on us to emulate his resume,
which is too formidable for mere mortals. It is to
emulate his character, and his example is a human being.
We can strive to do that. We can choose to

(17:20):
be good.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
One of the General's favorite singers was the Scottish singer Lulu,
who beat famous the song to Sir with Love, which
was written by Don Black and Mark London for the
movie of that same name starring Sidney Poitier. Although the
lyrics of the song are written as if sung by
a young schoolgirl adoringly to her teacher while I tear
up whenever I think of that last verse. A friend,

(17:45):
he taught right from wrong and week from strong. That's
a lot to learn. What can I give you in return?
If you wanted the moon, I would try to make
a start, but I would rather you let me give
my heart to sir with love. If I could have
given him the moon to go with his four stars,
I surely would have. As a military leader and later

(18:06):
as a senior statesman on the world stage, he had
our admiration and respect. As a boss, a dear friend,
and a surrogate father. He had my heart, and I
will forever rejoice in being able to share the gift
of his memory, his lessons, and his chouad devivre to
serve with love.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Indeed, and you've been listening to Leslie Lawtonslayer her book
My Time with General Colin Powell, Stories of kindness, diplomacy
and protocol. My goodness, that eulogy delivered by his son Michael,
one of the most powerful eulogies I've ever heard. And
I remember we have done that story of that eulogy,

(18:45):
and I actually commented to the end that there are
two kinds of men in the world, and two kinds
of women, people whose sons and daughters speak about you
that way, and people who don't, And we all get
to choose which. That is the story of joy, General
Colin Powell, the story of the Man behind the stars.
To sir, with love, this is our American stories.