John R. Bolton served as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from April 8,
2018 until his resignation on September 10, 2019. From January 2007 until April 2018, he served
as a Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
John R. 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 the author of
The Room Where it Happened,
published by Simon &
Schuster (June 2020),
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 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 Nashville.