John Bolton

For other people named John Bolton, see John Bolton (disambiguation).

John Bolton
Bolton in 2018
26th United States National Security Advisor
In office
April 9, 2018 – September 10, 2019
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyNadia Schadlow
Ricky L. Waddell
Mira Ricardel
Charles Kupperman
Preceded byH. R. McMaster
Succeeded byRobert C. O'Brien
25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
In office
August 2, 2005 – December 31, 2006
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byJohn Danforth
Succeeded byZalmay Khalilzad
13th Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs
In office
May 11, 2001 – July 31, 2005
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byJohn D. Holum
Succeeded byRobert Joseph
18th Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs
In office
May 22, 1989 – January 20, 1993
PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush
Preceded byRichard S. Williamson
Succeeded byDouglas J. Bennet
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division
In office
July 27, 1988 – January 20, 1989
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byRichard K. Willard
Succeeded byStuart M. Gerson
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs
In office
December 12, 1985 – July 27, 1988[1]
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byRobert McConnell[2]
Succeeded byThomas Boyd[3]
Assistant Administrator of USAID for Program and Policy Coordination
In office
August 2, 1982[4] – December 30, 1983
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byAlexander Shakow[5]
Succeeded byRichard Derham[6]
Personal details
Born
John Robert Bolton

(1948-11-20) November 20, 1948 (age 76)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
Christine Bolton
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1983)​
Gretchen Smith
​
(m. 1986)​
Children1
Residence(s)Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
EducationYale University (BA, JD)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1970–1976[7]
John Bolton's voice
Bolton discusses the Hong Kong protests
Recorded August 14, 2019

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United States National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019.

Bolton served as a United States Assistant Attorney General for President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. He served in the State Department as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1989 to 1993, and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs from 2001 to 2005. He was an advocate of the Iraq War as a Director of the Project for the New American Century, which favored going to war with Iraq.[8]

He was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006, as a recess appointee by President George W. Bush.[9] He stepped down at the end of his recess appointment in December 2006[10][11] because he was unlikely to win confirmation in the Senate, of which the Democratic Party had control at the time.[10][12] Bolton later served as National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump from April 2018 to September 2019. He repeatedly called for the termination of the Iran nuclear deal, from which the U.S. withdrew in May 2018. He wrote a best-selling book about his tenure in the Trump administration, The Room Where It Happened, published in 2020.[13]

Bolton is widely considered a foreign policy hawk and advocates military action and regime change by the U.S. in Iran, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Yemen, and North Korea.[14][15][8][16] A member of the Republican Party, his political views have been described as American nationalist,[17][18] conservative,[19][20][21][22] and neoconservative,[23] although Bolton rejects the last term.[24][25][26] He is a former senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)[27] and a Fox News Channel commentator. He was a foreign policy adviser to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.[28]

  1. ^ "PN1250 – Nomination of Thomas M. Boyd for Department of Justice, 100th Congress (1987–1988)". October 14, 1988.
  2. ^ "PN690 – Nomination of John R. Bolton for Department of Justice, 99th Congress (1985–1986)". congress.gov. December 16, 1985. Archived from the original on February 11, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  3. ^ "PN1250 – Nomination of Thomas M. Boyd for Department of Justice, 100th Congress (1987–1988)". congress.gov. October 14, 1988. Archived from the original on February 11, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  4. ^ "PN908 - Nomination of John R. Bolton for U. S. International Development Cooperation Agency, 97th Congress (1981–1982)". February 8, 1982.
  5. ^ "Ronald Reagan: Nomination of John R. Bolton To Be an Assistant Administrator of the Agency for International Development". presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  6. ^ "Ronald Reagan: Nomination of Richard A. Derham To Be an Assistant Administrator of the Agency for International Development". presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  7. ^ "Ex. Rept. 109-1 – The Nomination of John R. Bolton to be U.S. Representative to the United Nations with Rank of Ambassador and U.S. Representative to the United Nations Security Council and U.S. Representative to the United Nations General Assembly During His Tenure of Service as U.S. Representative to the United Nations". congress.gov. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  8. ^ a b Crowley, Michael; Bender, Bryan (March 22, 2018). "Bolton pick underscores Trump's foreign policy confusion". Politico. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  9. ^ Senior, Jennifer (January 1, 2006). "Bolton in a China Shop". New York. Archived from the original on January 25, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  10. ^ a b Cooper, Helene (December 4, 2006). "John Bolton resigns as ambassador to U.N." The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 12, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  11. ^ "President Bush Accepts John Bolton's Resignation as U.S. Representative to the United Nations". White House, Office of the Press Secretary. December 4, 2006. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  12. ^ "John Bolton resigns as ambassador to U.N." NBC News. Associated Press. December 4, 2006. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Timesbolton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Kelemen, Michele; Taylor, Jessica (March 22, 2018). "Bolton Brings Hawkish Perspective To North Korea, Iran Strategy". NPR. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  15. ^ "John Bolton: Bush-era war hawk makes comeback". BBC News. March 22, 2018. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  16. ^ Fang, Marina (March 22, 2018). "Trump's Next National Security Adviser, John Bolton, Is As Dangerous As You Remembered". HuffPost. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  17. ^ Ignatieff, Michael (2009). American Exceptionalism and Human Rights. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0691116488. Beginning in the 1980s, a conservative legal counterattack gained ground, taking a strongly Americanist or nationalist view of international law. Academic lawyers like John Bolton ...
  18. ^ "Background: John Bolton's Nomination to the U.N." NPR. June 3, 2005. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018. Over the past 30 years, John Bolton has advertised himself as an unadulterated nationalist and opponent of multilateralism. He's not a healthy skeptic about the United Nations, but widely known as a committed, destructive opponent and ideological lone ranger.
  19. ^ Mousavian, Seyed (2012). The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. p. 18. ISBN 978-0870032684. Conservative John Bolton ...
  20. ^ Baker, Peter (March 13, 2018). "As White House's Revolving Door Whirls, Chaos Is the Only Constant". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  21. ^ "US Democrats hail return to power". BBC. March 10, 2006. Archived from the original on December 6, 2006. Retrieved November 10, 2006.
  22. ^ David Ramm, "Bolton, John R.", Current Biography Yearbook, 2006.
  23. ^ Jentleson, Bruce W.; Whytock, Christopher A. (March 30, 2006). "Who 'Won' Libya? The Force-Diplomacy Debate and Its Implications for Theory and Policy". International Security. 30 (3): 47–86. doi:10.1162/isec.2005.30.3.47. S2CID 57572461. Archived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  24. ^ Heilbrunn, Jacob (2009). They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. p. 266. ISBN 978-0307472489.
  25. ^ Bolton, John (December 18, 2007). "'Bush's Foreign Policy Is in Free Fall'". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  26. ^ "Transcript". Hardball with Chris Matthews. November 21, 2007. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020. MATTHEWS: The trouble with neoconservatives... BOLTON: I'm not a neoconservative.
  27. ^ "John R. Bolton". AEI. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  28. ^ Rosenthal, Andrew (September 28, 2012). "Bolton Calls Obama's Benghazi Response 'Limp-Wristed'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2020.