John R. Bolton

Ambassador Bolton was appointed as United States 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 State for Arms Control and International Security from May 2001 to May 2005.
Throughout his distinguished career, Ambassador Bolton has been a staunch defender of American interests. While Under Secretary of State, he repeatedly advocated tough measures against the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction worldwide. He led negotiations for America to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty so that the Bush Administration could proceed with a national missile-defense program.
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 is an attorney. Currently, he is of counsel at Kirkland & Ellis LLC with a focus on counseling domestic and international clients in complex corporate, litigation, internal investigations, regulatory and competition matters. From 1974-1981, he was an associate at Covington & Burling in Washington, where he returned as a partner in the firm from 1983-1985.
Ambassador Bolton is the author of “Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the U.N. and Abroad”, published by Simon and Shuster (November 2007) and “How Barack Obama is Endangering our National Sovereignty”, published by Encounter Books (April 2010).
Ambassador Bolton currently serves as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a contributor to FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network, and his op-ed articles are regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. AEI is a nonprofit public policy center dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of freedom through research education and open debate.
Ambassador Bolton was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale College in 1970, and received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1974. He currently resides in Maryland with his wife, Gretchen. They have one daughter, Jennifer Sarah, who also graduated from Yale College, and received her MBA and SM degrees from MIT in 2014 and is currently a senior manager at Nissan’s manufacturing facility in Mississippi.