The United States Ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations. The position is more formally known as the "Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council of the United Nations"; it is also known as the U.S. Permanent Representative, or "Perm Rep", to the United Nations.
The U.S. Permanent Representative, currently Susan Rice, is charged with representing the United States on the U.N. Security Council and during all plenary meetings of the General Assembly except in the rare situation in which a more senior officer of the United States (such as the U.S. Secretary of State or the President of the United States) is present. Like all United States ambassadors, he or she must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Many prominent U.S. politicians and diplomats have held the post, including Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Adlai Stevenson, George H. W. Bush, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick, Richard Holbrooke, Dr. Madeleine Albright, Bill Richardson, and John Danforth.
It was a cabinet-level position under the Clinton administration and is under the Obama administration as well. It was not a cabinet-level position under the Bush administration (from 2001 to 2009).[1][2]
[edit] Office-holders
The following is a chronological list of those who have held the office:
| # | US Ambassador to UN | Years served | U.N. Secretary-General | U.S. President |
| 1 | Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. | 1945–1946 | Sir Gladwyn Jebb, Trygve Lie | Harry S. Truman |
| — | Herschel V. Johnson
(acting) | 1946–1947 | Trygve Lie |
| 2 | Warren R. Austin | 1947–1953 | Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjöld |
| 3 | Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. | 1953–1960 | Dag Hammarskjöld | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 4 | James J. Wadsworth | 1960–1961 |
| 5 | Adlai Stevenson | 1961–1965 | Dag Hammarskjöld, U Thant | John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 6 | Arthur J. Goldberg | 1965–1968 | U Thant | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 7 | George W. Ball | 1968 |
| 8 | James Russell Wiggins | 1968–1969 |
| 9 | Charles W. Yost | 1969–1971 | Richard Nixon |
| 10 | George H. W. Bush | 1971–1973 | U Thant, Kurt Waldheim |
| 11 | John A. Scali | 1973–1975 | Kurt Waldheim | Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford |
| 12 | Daniel Patrick Moynihan | 1975–1976 | Gerald Ford |
| 13 | William Scranton | 1976–1977 |
| 14 | Andrew Young | 1977–1979 | Jimmy Carter |
| 15 | Donald McHenry | 1979–1981 |
| 16 | Jeane Kirkpatrick | 1981–1985 | Kurt Waldheim, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar | Ronald Reagan |
| 17 | Vernon A. Walters | 1985–1989 | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar |
| 18 | Thomas R. Pickering | 1989–1992 | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali | George H. W. Bush |
| 19 | Edward J. Perkins | 1992–1993 | Boutros Boutros-Ghali |
| 20 | Madeleine Albright | 1993–1997 | Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan | Bill Clinton |
| 21 | Bill Richardson | 1997–1998 | Kofi Annan |
| — | Peter Burleigh
(acting) | 1998–1999 |
| 22 | Richard Holbrooke | 1999–2001 |
| — | James B. Cunningham
(acting) | 2001 | George W. Bush |
| 23 | John D. Negroponte | 2001–2004 |
| 24 | John Danforth | 2004–2005 |
| — | Anne W. Patterson (acting) | 2005 |
| 25 | John R. Bolton (interim) | 2005–2006 |
| — | Alejandro Daniel Wolff (acting) | 2006–2007 | Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon |
| 26 | Zalmay Khalilzad | 2007–2009 | Ban Ki-Moon |
| 27 | Susan Rice | 2009-present | Barack Obama |
[edit] External links
| United States Ambassadors to the United Nations | | | | |
[edit] See also
