John R. Bolton was appointed as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations on August 1, 2005 and served until his resignation in December 2006.  Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Bolton served as Under Secretary of the State for Arms Control and International Security (May 2001—May 2005).

 

During his tenure at the United Nations, Bolton was a tenacious and outspoken advocate of U.S. efforts to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, push Syria out of Lebanon, and bring African peacekeepers into shaky Somalia.  Bolton was very effective on North Korea, pushing a very strong sanctions resolution through the U.N. Security Council within days of Pyongyang’s October 9, 2006 nuclear test.  Bolton and France’s ambassador led the Security Council to approve a unanimous resolution to end the summer 2006 Hezbollah war on Israel.  Bolton successfully executed his orders to stop the combat and authorize U.N. peacekeepers.  Bolton also assembled an international coalition that blocked the bid of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s Marxist  strongman, to join the Security Council.  This anti-authoritarian alliance survived 47 ballots.  An eventual compromise helped moderate Panama fill that spot.

 

While at the United Nations, Bolton was an advocate for human rights and arranged the Security Council’s first deliberations on Burma’s human rights abuses.  In September 2006, Bolton invited actor George Clooney and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel to brief the Security Council on Arab mass-murder of non-Arabs in Darfur, Sudan.  He engineered the Security Council’s approval of 22,500 U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.  Bolton pressured Sudan’s government to accept these personnel atop the 7,000 African Union soldiers already on site.

 

Ambassador Bolton has spent many years of his career in public service.  Previous positions he has held include Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, 1989-1993; Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, 1985-1989; Assistant Administrator for Program and Policy Coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983; and General Counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982.

 

Ambassador Bolton was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 20, 1948.  He graduated with a B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale University and received his J.D. from Yale Law School.