Proudly wearing one of several hundred brooches she owns, [Madeline] Albright relayed how her pins have played a part in her life as a public figure, as she often used them as a tool for diplomacy to reinforce the message she wanted to convey.

Albright shared the background on how she came to use her pins as more than decoration. As an ambassador to the United Nations, she criticized Iraq for not meeting its obligations to the world community prompting the Iraqi government to publish a poem in which they called Albright “a snake.” Not long afterward, she met with an Iraq official and wore a snake pin, garnering attention from the media about the piece of jewelry.