President Clinton holding a Bosnia meeting in the Situation Room with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright, National Security Advisor Tony Lake, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Secretary of Defense William Perry, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General John Shalikashvili, and others. March 23, 1994. (William J. Clinton Presidential Library)
Ambassador Albright speaks to reporters after she presented photographic evidence of mass graves in Bosnia to the U.N. Security Council, August 10, 1995. Behind her is James Rubin, a U.S. Mission spokesman. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In 1993, President Clinton worked quickly to search for a diplomatic solution to end the crisis, instructing Secretary of State Warren Christopher and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright to shape a more active role with the  United States’ NATO partners to put more pressure on Milošević in the form of sanctions and military strikes. Albright was the most vociferous of Clinton’s cabinet members to call for immediate and decisive action to end the violence. A former refugee from Czechoslovakia, Albright had deep ties to the Balkan region; her brother was born in Yugoslavia and her father had served as a diplomat in Belgrade, Serbia. She  advised  President Clinton that the crisis seriously undermined U.S. authority and credibility throughout the world, noting that, “When U.S. leadership is being questioned in one area, it affects our leadership in others.”