Editing Madeleine Albright (section)

=== Early career ===
Albright returned to Washington, D.C., in 1968, and commuted to Columbia for her doctor of philosophy, which she earned in 1975.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=71}} She began fund-raising for her daughters' school, involvement which led to several positions on education boards.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=63–66}} She was eventually invited to organize a fund-raising dinner for the 1972 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator [[Ed Muskie]] of Maine.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=65}} This association with Muskie led to a position as his chief legislative assistant in 1976.<ref name=scott99>{{cite magazine| first = A. O.| last = Scott| title = Madeleine Albright: The Diplomat Who Mistook Her Life for Statecraft| url = http://www.slate.com/id/25857/| magazine = [[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]| date = April 25, 1999| access-date = April 9, 2009| archive-date = September 7, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110907232646/http://www.slate.com/id/25857| url-status = live}}</ref> However, after the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 U.S. presidential election]] of [[Jimmy Carter]], Albright's former professor Brzezinski was named [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]], and recruited Albright from Muskie in 1978 to work in the [[West Wing]] as the National Security Council's congressional liaison.<ref name=scott99 /> Following Carter's loss in 1980 to [[Ronald Reagan]], Albright moved on to the [[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]] at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in Washington, D.C., where she was given a grant for a research project.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=91}} She chose to write on the dissident journalists involved in [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]]'s [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] movement, then in its infancy but gaining international attention.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=91}} She traveled to Poland for her research, interviewing dissidents in [[Gdańsk]], [[Warsaw]], and [[Kraków]].{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=92}} Upon her return to Washington, her husband announced his intention to divorce her so that he could pursue a relationship with another woman; the divorce was finalized in 1983.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=94, 514}}

Albright joined the academic staff at [[Georgetown University]] in Washington, D.C., in 1982, specializing in Eastern European studies.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=99}} She also directed the university's program on women in global politics.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=100}} She served as a major [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] foreign policy advisor, briefing vice-presidential candidate [[Geraldine Ferraro]] in 1984 and presidential candidate [[Michael Dukakis]] in 1988 (both campaigns ended in defeat).{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=102–104}} In 1992, [[Bill Clinton]] returned the [[White House]] to the Democratic Party, and Albright was employed to handle the transition to a new administration at the National Security Council.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=127}} In January 1993, Clinton nominated her to be [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations|U.S. ambassador to the United Nations]], her first diplomatic posting.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=131}}