Remembering when Madeleine Albright punked Putin

Madam Albright will be remembered for a long list of accolades, but perhaps her most irreverent legacy was her use of brooch pins to send comically pointed diplomatic messages. Madam Albright once explained:

“On good days, when I wanted to project prosperity and happiness, I’d put on suns, ladybugs, flowers, and hot-air balloons that signified high hopes. On bad days, I’d reach for spiders and carnivorous animals. If the progress was slower than I liked during a meeting in the Middle East, I’d wear a snail pin. And when I was dealing with crabby people, I put on a crab. Other ambassadors started to notice, and whenever they asked me what I was up to on any given day, I would tell them, ‘Read my pins.'”

In 1993, Saddam Hussein’s administration published a poem in a Bagdad newspaper which referred to Albright as an “unparalleled serpent“. Albright responded by wearing a snake pin while meeting with Iraqi officials.

In December of 1999, it was discovered that Russian spies had bugged a conference room in State Department headquarters. Later that month, Albright wore a decorative bug brooch when meeting with Russian foreign minister Ivanov to indicate that she did not appreciate the listening device. On the matter, Albright quipped, “The Russians learned nothing from their eavesdropping that we wouldn’t have told them if asked.”

In 2000, Madam Albright traveled to Russia with President Clinton for a summit regarding Moscow’s war with Chechnya. Because, as she put it, “The Russians never would talk about what was really going on during their conflict with Chechnya,” Albright wore a “hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no evil” pin. The pin piqued then-acting president Putin’s curiosity, who asked Albright why she was wearing the monkey pin. Albright explained that the pin represented Russia’s policy with Chechnya. Albright later said of Putin, “He was not amused. I probably went too far.”

Madeleine Albright after receiving the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, presented by Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter at the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon, June 30, 2016. (Photo Credit: Senior Master Sergeant Adrian Cadiz)

Madeleine Albright will be remembered as a pioneer of diplomacy, a fierce advocate of justice, and a trailblazer for women’s rights and opportunity. President Joe Biden remembered her as “a force for goodness, grace, and decency—and for freedom.” He added that Albright “defied convention and broke barriers again and again.”

Biden also decreed that flags will be flown at half-mast in her honor until the 27th of March.