List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nations

Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations
Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations
	Seal of the Department of State
	Incumbent; Linda Thomas-Greenfield; since February 25, 2021
	United States Mission to the United Nations
Style	Madam Ambassador; (informal); The Honorable; (formal); Her Excellency; (diplomatic)
Member of	National Security Council; Cabinet
Reports to	President; Secretary of State
Residence	50 United Nations Plaza
Seat	United Nations Headquarters; New York City, New York, U.S.
Appointer	President; with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term; At the pleasure of the President of the United States
Formation	December 21, 1945; 78 years ago
First holder	Edward Stettinius Jr.
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level IV
Website	usun.usmission.gov

The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is 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 United Nations Security Council.

The deputy ambassador assumes the duties of the ambassador in his or her absence. As with all United States ambassadors, the ambassador to the UN and the deputy ambassador are both nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The ambassador serves at the pleasure of the President. The ambassador may be assisted by one or more appointed delegates, often appointed for a specific purpose or issue.

The U.S. permanent representative is charged with representing the United States on the UN Security Council, and during all plenary meetings of the General Assembly, except when a more senior officer of the United States (such as the secretary of state or the president of the United States) is in attendance.

Despite his or her title head of external mission, the United States ambassador to the United Nations is also responsible for importing United Nations policies and motions voted in the main organs of the United Nations onto the national territory.

The current ambassador is Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate on February 23, 2021.

After winning the 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump announced that he will nominate Elise Stefanik, who is currently serving in the United States House of Representatives to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in his second term.

Cabinet status

Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a leading moderate Republican who lost his seat in the United States Senate to John F. Kennedy in the 1952 elections, was appointed ambassador to the United Nations in 1953 by Dwight D. Eisenhower in gratitude for the defeated senator's role in the new president's defeat of conservative leader Robert A. Taft for the 1952 Republican nomination and subsequent service as his campaign manager in the general election; Eisenhower raised the ambassadorship to Cabinet rank in order to give Lodge direct access to him without having to go through the State Department.^[1]

The ambassadorship continued to hold this status throughout the remainder of the Cold War but was removed from Cabinet rank by George H. W. Bush, who had previously held the position himself. It was restored under the Clinton administration. It was not a Cabinet-level position under the George W. Bush administration (from 2001 to 2009),^[2]^[3] but was once again elevated under the Obama administration, and initially retained as such by the Trump administration during the tenure of Nikki Haley.^[4] However, in December 2018, it was reported by several news organizations that the Trump administration would once again downgrade the position to non-Cabinet rank.^[5] The position was again elevated to Cabinet rank in the Biden administration.^[6]

Former UN ambassador and national security advisor John R. Bolton has publicly opposed the granting of Cabinet-level status to the office, stating "One, it overstates the role and importance the U.N. should have in U.S. foreign policy, second, you shouldn't have two secretaries in the same department".

List of ambassadors

Status

Denotes Acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations

The following is a chronological list of those who have held the office:

#	Ambassador	Years Served
1	Edward Stettinius Jr.	January 17, 1946 – June 3, 1946	Harry S. Truman
—	Herschel Johnson	June 3, 1946 – January 14, 1947 Acting
2	Warren Austin	January 14, 1947 – January 22, 1953
2	Warren Austin	January 14, 1947 – January 22, 1953	Dwight D. Eisenhower
3	Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.	January 26, 1953^[7] – September 3, 1960
4	James Jeremiah Wadsworth	September 8, 1960 – January 21, 1961
4	James Jeremiah Wadsworth	September 8, 1960 – January 21, 1961	John F. Kennedy
5	Adlai Stevenson II	January 23, 1961 – July 14, 1965	John F. Kennedy
5	Adlai Stevenson II	January 23, 1961 – July 14, 1965	Lyndon B. Johnson
6	Arthur Goldberg	July 28, 1965 – June 24, 1968
7	George Ball	June 26, 1968 – September 25, 1968
8	James Russell Wiggins	October 7, 1968 – January 20, 1969
9	Charles W. Yost	January 23, 1969 – February 25, 1971	Richard Nixon
10	George H. W. Bush	March 1, 1971 – January 18, 1973
11	John A. Scali	February 20, 1973 – June 29, 1975
11	John A. Scali	February 20, 1973 – June 29, 1975	Gerald Ford
12	Daniel Patrick Moynihan	June 30, 1975 – February 2, 1976
13	William Scranton	March 15, 1976 – January 19, 1977
14	Andrew Young	January 30, 1977 – September 23, 1979	Jimmy Carter
15	Donald McHenry	September 23, 1979 – January 20, 1981	Jimmy Carter
16	Jeane Kirkpatrick	February 4, 1981 – April 1, 1985	Ronald Reagan
17	Vernon A. Walters	May 22, 1985 – March 15, 1989	Ronald Reagan
17	Vernon A. Walters	May 22, 1985 – March 15, 1989	George H. W. Bush
18	Thomas R. Pickering	March 20, 1989 – May 7, 1992
19	Edward J. Perkins	May 12, 1992 – January 27, 1993
19	Edward J. Perkins	May 12, 1992 – January 27, 1993	Bill Clinton
20	Madeleine Albright	January 27, 1993 – January 21, 1997
21	Bill Richardson	February 18, 1997 – August 18, 1998
—	Peter Burleigh	August 18, 1998 – September 7, 1999 Acting
22	Richard Holbrooke	September 7, 1999 – January 20, 2001
—	James B. Cunningham	January 20, 2001 – September 19, 2001 Acting	George W. Bush
23	John Negroponte	September 19, 2001 – July 23, 2004
24	John Danforth	July 23, 2004 – January 20, 2005
—	Anne W. Patterson	January 20, 2005 – August 2, 2005 Acting
25	John Bolton	August 2, 2005 – December 31, 2006
—	Alejandro Daniel Wolff	December 31, 2006 – April 30, 2007 Acting
26	Zalmay Khalilzad	April 30, 2007 – January 22, 2009
26	Zalmay Khalilzad	April 30, 2007 – January 22, 2009	Barack Obama
27	Susan Rice	January 26, 2009 – June 30, 2013
—	Rosemary DiCarlo	June 30, 2013 – August 5, 2013 Acting
28	Samantha Power	August 5, 2013 – January 20, 2017
—	Michele J. Sison	January 20, 2017 – January 27, 2017 Acting	Donald Trump
29	Nikki Haley	January 27, 2017 – December 31, 2018
—	Jonathan Cohen	January 1, 2019 – September 12, 2019 Acting
30	Kelly Craft	September 12, 2019 – January 20, 2021
—	Richard M. Mills Jr.	January 20, 2021 – February 25, 2021 Acting	Joe Biden
31	Linda Thomas-Greenfield	February 25, 2021 – present	Joe Biden

List of deputy ambassadors

The United States deputy ambassador to the United Nations serves as the second most senior American diplomat before the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council in New York and carries the diplomatic rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. In the absence of the ambassador, the deputy serves in his or her place.

Ernest A. Gross – October 11, 1949 – 1953
James J. Wadsworth^† February 28, 1953 – 1960
Charles W. Yost^† – February 13, 1961 – 1966
William B. Buffum – January 1967 – 1970
W. Tapley Bennett Jr. – 1971–1977
James F. Leonard – 1977–1979
William vanden Heuvel – 1979–1981
Kenneth L. Adelman – confirmed July 29, 1981 – 1983
José S. Sorzano – confirmed July 26, 1983 – 1985
Herbert S. Okun – confirmed October 1, 1985 (following a recess appointment) – 1989
Alexander F. Watson – confirmed August 4, 1989 – 1992
Edward S. Walker Jr. – confirmed October 8, 1992 – 1993
Skip Gnehm – April 1994 – August 1997
Peter Burleigh – August 1997 – December 1999
James B. Cunningham – December 12, 1999 – July 2004
Anne W. Patterson – August 2004 – August 2005
Alejandro Daniel Wolff – November 2005 – June 2010
Rosemary DiCarlo – July 8, 2010 – c. November 1, 2014
Michele J. Sison – December 7, 2014 – February 21, 2018
Kelley Eckels Currie (acting) – February 21, 2018 – June 8, 2018
Jonathan Cohen – June 8, 2018 – November 17, 2019
Richard M. Mills Jr. – November 9, 2020 – June 21, 2024
Dorothy Shea – August 16, 2024 – Incumbent

^†These deputy ambassadors later served as full U.S. ambassador to the United Nations position (see above).

List of deputies to the ambassador

The Deputy to the Ambassador to the UN is a separate position from the Senate-confirmed role of Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations. The deputy to the ambassador assists the U.S. ambassador to the UN by acting as a liaison in Washington, D.C., managing their Washington office, interacting with Congress and acting as a stand-in for the UN ambassador. The two roles co-exist, as in 2019 when Taryn Frideres was Deputy to the Ambassador at the same time that Jonathan Cohen was Deputy Ambassador to the UN.

Taryn Frideres – October 2019 – February 25, 2021
Jeffrey Prescott – February 25, 2021 – February 25, 2024
Ned Price – February 29, 2024 – present

Notes

References

^ Hubbard, James P. (2011). The United States and the End of British Colonial Rule in Africa, 1941–1968. Jefferson City, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-7864-5952-0.
^ Kelemen, Michele (December 1, 2008). "U.N. Envoy Nominee Rice Known As Smart, Tough". National Public Radio. Retrieved January 21, 2009. The head of the United Nations Foundation, a Washington-based advocacy group, released a statement praising Rice as well as Obama's decision to make the post of U.N. ambassador a Cabinet-level position once again – as it was during the Clinton years.
^ Cooper, Helene (November 20, 2008). "Clinton Decision Holding Up Other Obama Choices". The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2009. Ms. Rice could get the post of United States ambassador to the United Nations, a cabinet-level position under President Clinton. President Bush downgraded the position when he came into office
^ Walker, Hunter. "President Trump announces his full Cabinet roster." Yahoo News. 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
^ Kristen Welker; Geoff Bennett; Daniel Barnes (December 7, 2018). "U.N. ambassador to no longer be Cabinet-level position". NBC News. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
^ Kirby, Jen (November 23, 2020). "Biden announces veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield as UN ambassador pick". Vox.
^ Chesly Manly (January 27, 1953). "Lodge Asks FBI to Screen All U.S. Aids [sic] on U.N." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune Press Service. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017.

External links

Official website

[1] Hubbard, James P. (2011). The United States and the End of British Colonial Rule in Africa, 1941–1968. Jefferson City, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-7864-5952-0.

[2] Kelemen, Michele (December 1, 2008). "U.N. Envoy Nominee Rice Known As Smart, Tough". National Public Radio. Retrieved January 21, 2009. The head of the United Nations Foundation, a Washington-based advocacy group, released a statement praising Rice as well as Obama's decision to make the post of U.N. ambassador a Cabinet-level position once again – as it was during the Clinton years.

[3] Cooper, Helene (November 20, 2008). "Clinton Decision Holding Up Other Obama Choices". The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2009. Ms. Rice could get the post of United States ambassador to the United Nations, a cabinet-level position under President Clinton. President Bush downgraded the position when he came into office

[4] Walker, Hunter. "President Trump announces his full Cabinet roster." Yahoo News. 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2017-02-08.

[5] Kristen Welker; Geoff Bennett; Daniel Barnes (December 7, 2018). "U.N. ambassador to no longer be Cabinet-level position". NBC News. Retrieved December 7, 2018.

[6] Kirby, Jen (November 23, 2020). "Biden announces veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield as UN ambassador pick". Vox.

[7] Chesly Manly (January 27, 1953). "Lodge Asks FBI to Screen All U.S. Aids [sic] on U.N." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune Press Service. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017.

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