Washington ? Secretary of State Colin Powell announced his resignation Monday, ending four years of battles with Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the course of U.S. foreign policy.

Administration officials said Powell, whose departure was announced by the White House with three other Cabinet resignations, would be replaced by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, one of President Bush’s most trusted confidants. Rice will be replaced by her deputy, Stephen Hadley, administration officials said. The Rice and Hadley announcements will be made as soon as today, the officials said.

Republican officials said choosing Rice reflects Bush’s determination to take personal control of the government in a second term, especially departments and agencies that he thought had undermined him in the first four years. Powell’s departure is also a victory for conservatives, removing the administration’s most forceful advocate for negotiations and multilateral engagement on such issues as Middle East peace and curbing nuclear activities in Iran and North Korea.

A White House official said Powell indicated to the president weeks or months before Nov. 2 that he planned to leave soon after the election. But one government official with personal knowledge of the situation said Powell had second thoughts and had prepared a list of conditions under which he would be willing to stay. They included greater engagement with Iran and a harder line with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Powell and Bush met at the White House on Friday, the date on the secretary’s letter of resignation. Details of the meeting could not be learned, but White House officials said the secretary was not asked to stay. A senior State Department official said Powell made no demands of the president and gave no hints that he might stay, an account echoed by White House aides.

Bush issued a statement Monday calling Powell “one of the great public servants of our time” and praising “the calm judgment and steady resolve he has brought to our foreign policy.”

In an appearance Monday afternoon in the State Department briefing room, Powell said he would stay “a number of weeks or a month or two, as my replacement goes through the confirmation process.” He explained his departure as long in the making.

“In recent weeks and months, President Bush and I have talked about foreign policy and we’ve talked about what to do at the end of the first term,” Powell said. “It has always been my intention that I would serve one term. And after we had had a chance to have good and fulsome discussions on it, we came to the mutual agreement that it would be appropriate for me to leave at this time.”

Foreign policy experts predicted that Powell’s resignation, and Rice’s ascension, could result in a more coherent message from the Bush administration.

Secretary of State Colin Powell will be leaving President Bush's Cabinet. Powell, pictured Monday outside the State Department, submitted his resignation Friday. He will be succeeded by Condoleezza Rice.

Kenneth Adelman, a conservative foreign-policy specialist, worked with Powell during the Reagan administration.

“Powell is a wonderful, wonderful person,” he said. “The sad part about this episode in this Bush administration is fundamentally he and the president disagreed on central issues on national security and foreign policy.”

Rice, by contrast, “certainly shares Bush’s views and has learned better than anyone what Bush’s views are,” Adelman said. “You are not going to have that split in a second term.”

The White House announced Powell’s departure along with the resignations of three other Cabinet members — Education Secretary Rod Paige, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Their departures — along with the earlier resignations of Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, and the likely departure of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge for a lucrative post in private industry — mean Bush will replace about half of the 15 heads of executive departments for his second term.

Administration officials said more departure announcements were likely, including one from Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the lone Democrat in the Cabinet.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, left, and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice arrive for a news conference in Cross Hall of the White House in Washington in this April 14, 2004, file photo. Powell announced his resignation Monday, and President Bush reportedly will name Rice as Powell's successor.