Albright got started with pins after the Gulf War. She was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and she had angered Saddam Hussein by criticizing his refusal to coöperate with weapons inspectors. A poem appeared in the Iraqi press—“Albright, Albright, all right, all right, you are the worst in this night”—which called Albright an “unparalleled serpent.” Albright recalled, “I had this snake pin, so I thought it would be really fun to wear it when we did Iraq things.” She pointed it out, behind the glass: an antique eighteen-carat-gold branch, around which was coiled a snake, a diamond dangling from its mouth. The pin was a hit. Albright bought some more.
Madeleine Albright and her brooch collection: The New Yorker
