A four-star general, Colin Powell was the first African American to serve as secretary of state and on the Joints Chief of Staff. He was the chief military strategist during Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations in Iraq. He died at age 84 from complications of COVID-19 on Oct. 18, 2021. <br><br>Colin Powell posted this image to his Facebook on March 13, 2014 with the caption, "Throwback Thursday - I was doing selfies 60 years before you Facebook folks. Eat your heart out Ellen!"

Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger confers with Army Maj. Gen. Colin Powell during testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on Capitol Hill, Feb. 8, 1985, in Washington, D.C. Powell worked for Weinberger for the Nixon administration and the Carter administration.

Colin L Powell, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, 1987.

US Army Lt. General Colin Powell speaks after Ronald Reagan announced his promotion to National Security Advisor, Nov. 5, 1987.

General Colin Powell briefs reporters at the Pentagon, Dec. 20, 1989, about the military operation to remove Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega from power and bring him to the U.S. for trial on drug charges.

General Colin Powell, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, tours the bombed courtyard of the Panaminian Defense Force Comandancia in Panama City on Jan. 5, 1990 to review US troops and receive a briefing on "Operation Just Cause," the US invasion of Panama.

Colin Powell, chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff, makes a point about the entrenched Iraqi troops in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, at the Pentagon on Jan. 23, 1991.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell plays with his grandson at the chairman's residence at Ft. McNair, VA in Sept. 1993.

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, embrace as they meet at ceremonies marking South African President Nelson Mandela's inauguration, May 10, 1994, in Pretoria, South Africa.

President Bill Clinton meets reporters at the White House, Sept. 19, 1994, along with, from left, former President Jimmy Carter, Sen. Sam Nunn and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell, to discuss the situation in Haiti. Carter, Powell and Nunn had recently returned from a peacekeeping mission in Haiti, in which they were able to help bring to an end to military rule and establish an elected government for the country, avoiding a U.S. invasion.

Retired General Colin Powell jokes Oct. 11, 1995 in Paris during a press conference to promote his autobiography that has been at the top of the best-selling list in the United States.

Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor George W. Bush, retired US General Colin Powell, and Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney, wave to the crowd that came to hear their early Nov. 4, 2000 campaign speeches at Ford Park in Dearborn, Michigan.

President-elect George W. Bush listens to retired General Colin Powell speak after announcing that he was naming Powell as US Secretary of State during a ceremony in Crawford, Texas, Dec. 16, 2000.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice jokingly pats Secretary of State Colin Powell on the cheek in the Oval Office as President George W. Bush was finishing his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, May 7, 2002. Rice succeeded Powell as Secretary of State.

Secretary of State Colin Powell holds up a vial that he said was the size that could be used to hold anthrax as he addresses the United Nations Security Council, Feb. 5, 2003, at the UN in New York. Initially reluctant, Powell eventually backed President Bush and his speech at the UN paved the way to invade Iraq. He later admitted there had been no weapons of mass destruction.

Secretary of State Colin Powell waves to soldiers and airmen while walking to a Blackhawk helicopter, Sept. 15, 2003, in Kirkuk, Iraq.

Departing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell delivers a farewell address to State Department employees while his wife Alma looks, Jan. 19, 2004, in Washington, DC.

President Barack Obama jokes with Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Colin Powell following their meeting in the Oval Office, Dec. 1, 2010.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell listens as President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 22, 2014, before signing the America's Promise Summit Declaration.