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The story of Colin Powell is the classic American story, or at least, it's what we like to think the classic American story should be. The son of hard-working Jamaican immigrants, Powell was born in Harlem, grew up in the racially integrated South Bronx, attended the City College of New York, joined the R.O.T.C. and discovered his passion for things military. After stints in Korea, Vietnam and Germany he made his most important marks in the Pentagon bureaucracy, cultivating civilian and military contacts and advancing above his colleagues on an express ride through the ranks. As the ultimate insider, Powell is coveted by both political parties, but questions his own ability to switch from military hero to politician. [via]