CARBONDALE, Ill (WSIL) -- The late Colin Powell, who served as the nation's first Black secretary of state during the first four years of the George W. Bush Administration, is being remembered around the country.
Powell died Monday morning due to COVID-19 complications, according to a family post on Powell's Facebook page. Powell was 84.
John Shaw, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, says Powell was an iconic figure whose influece was hard to overstate.
"He rose to the very top of the U.S. military and American government through just sheer talent, charm, charisma," Shaw said.
Shaw noted how Powell's support of Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election marked the turning point in the race.
Just a decade prior, Shaw says Powell was seen as a Republican favorite to defeat Bill Clinton in the mid-90s. Powell never ran. Instead, he served as secretary of state from 2001 to 2004.
It was 2003 when Powell met his now-infamous moment. Powell spoke to the United Nation's Security Council to make the case for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"He made a fatal mistake in defending a war that he had serious reservations about," Shaw said.
Powell began his military career with the army in the 1960s and worked his way to becoming a four-star general under the George H.W. Bush Administration.
Powell became the first Black American to hold the positions of Secretary of State, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and head of the National Security Council.
