Selected over three dozen more senior generals, Powell was nominated by President Bush in 1989 to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the nation's most prestigious military position. Powell was the first black officer to hold this post. As chairman of the JCS, Powell held a key role in formulating and refining plans for the December 1989 operation that eliminated the corrupt Manuel Noriega regime in Panama. Television appearances in which Powell explained the purpose of the operation brought him to the favorable attention of the American public. "In a performance that left politicians and viewers marveling," observed a Wall Street Journal reporter, "he laid out the details in tough but carefully measured tones that may have done more than anything else to reassure lawmakers and the public about the predawn invasion."

Powell became similarly conspicuous during the first stages of Operation Desert Shield, the joint effort by the United States and several other nations through blockade and the mobilization of substantial forces in and near Saudi Arabia to pressure Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein into removing his forces from neighboring Kuwait. This small, oil-rich nation had been occupied by Iraqi troops in August 1990. It soon became apparent that this operation, unlike the earlier one in Panama, would take months to decide and involved the risk of substantial casualties if and when hostilities broke out between the Iraqis and the international forces, the bulk of them American. It was thus uncertain whether Powell's largely unblemished record for excellent judgment and leadership would remain intact. When Desert Shield turned into Desert Storm on January 16, 1991, Powell again demonstrated his successful leadership. Six weeks later the Iraqi army was crushed; the multinational forces stood completely victorious. For his part in this Persian Gulf War, General Powell, as well as field commander General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, was awarded a congressional gold medal. When Powell was named to head the JCS, a former White House colleague remarked of his appointment: "No one ever thinks of Colin as being Black; they think of him as being good." Powell, however, never ignored his background in New York City or the prejudice he encountered in the 1960s when off base at various army posts in the South, "I've made myself very accessible to the Black press," he once told an Ebony reporter, "and I do that as a way of just showing people, 'Hey, look at that dude. He came out of the South Bronx.