U.S. Ambassador John Bolton Resigns

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will leave office later this month, the White House announced today (see GSN, Nov. 13).

U.S. President George W. Bush named Bolton to the position last year during a congressional recess, thereby skipping the need for the Senate to approve the appointment but limiting Bolton’s official status to the end of the congressional term this month.

Bolton, formerly a key policymaker at the State Department, drew considerable political fire from critics who said he had an abrasive character that was inappropriate for international diplomacy, the New York Times reported.

The White House had submitted Bolton’s name for review again last month, but Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) indicated that he would oppose the nomination, thus killing the Republican majority on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Bush today lamented Bolton’s departure.

“I am deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate,” Bush said in a statement.  “They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys the majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time” (Christine Hauser, New York Times, Dec. 4).

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