Francis X. Clines said:
Alexandria, VA Nov. 8th 1995: Resisting an enormous popular drumbeat for his candidacy, Gen. Colin L. Powell, the hero of the gulf war, declined today to compete in the 1996 Presidential election because, he admitted, he lacked "a passion and commitment that, despite my every effort, I do not have for political life."
"Such a life requires a calling that I do not yet hear," the general said, turning away from the race at the height of a personal appeal among the American public that had threatened to upend the current political arena and reorder the strategies of both major parties.
At a packed news conference here, the 58-year-old general, a commanding black executive celebrated in voter polls even more among whites than blacks, got right to the question that has teased the nation for months. After wrestling "back and forth" with the Presidential bid widely urged upon him, he looked "deep into my own soul," he said, and concluded he lacked the kind of passionate commitment to politics that sustained his bond of trust with the public across 35 years of Army service.
"For me to pretend otherwise would not be honest to myself, it would not be honest to the American people and I would break that bond of trust," the retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, ruling out any second thoughts as the campaign proceeds, but leaving a future candidacy open to speculation.