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 United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. The position is formally known as the

permanent representative A permanent representative is a diplomat who is the head of a country’s diplomatic mission to an international organisation. Organizations that receive permanent representatives from their member states include the United Nations, the World Tr ...

of the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

to the

, with the rank and status of

ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

, and representative of the United States of America in the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

. The deputy ambassador assumes the duties of the ambassador in his or her absence. As with all

United States ambassadors Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. ...

, the ambassador to the UN and the deputy ambassador are nominated by the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

and

confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The ambassador serves at the pleasure of the president, and enjoys full diplomatic immunity. 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 A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

, except when a more senior officer of the United States (such as the secretary of state or the

) is in attendance. The current ambassador is

Linda Thomas-Greenfield Linda Thomas-Greenfield (born 1952) is an American diplomat who is the United States ambassador to the United Nations under President Joe Biden. She served as the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2013 to 2017. Thomas ...

, who was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate on February 23, 2021.

Cabinet status

Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...

, a leading moderate Republican who lost his seat in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

in the 1952 elections, was appointed ambassador to the United Nations in 1953 by

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

in gratitude for the defeated senator's role in the new president's defeat of conservative leader

Robert A. Taft Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Lead ...

for the 1952 Republican nomination and subsequent service as his campaign manager in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

; Eisenhower raised the ambassadorship to

Cabinet rank The ministerial ranking, Cabinet ranking, order of precedence in Cabinet or order of precedence of ministers is the "pecking order" or relative importance of senior ministers in the Government of the United Kingdom, UK government. Use The mi ...

in order to give Lodge direct access to him without having to go through the State Department. The ambassadorship continued to hold this status through the Reagan administration but was removed from Cabinet rank by

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

, who had previously held the position himself. It was restored under the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

. It was not a Cabinet-level position under the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic in ...

(from 2001 to 2009), but was once again elevated under the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

, and initially retained as such by the Trump administration. 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. The position was again elevated to Cabinet rank in the Biden administration. Former UN ambassador and

national security advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

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

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 Ernest A. Gross (September 23, 1906 – May 2, 1999) was a United States diplomat and lawyer who headed the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in the lead-up to the Korean War. Biography Ernest A. Gross was born in Brooklyn on September 23, ...

- October 11, 1949 – 1953 * James J. Wadsworth^† February 28, 1953 – 1960 *

Charles W. Yost Charles Woodruff Yost (November 6, 1907 – May 21, 1981) was a career U.S. Ambassador who was assigned as his country's representative to the United Nations from 1969 to 1971. Biography Yost was born in Watertown, New York. He attended t ...

^† - February 13, 1961 – 1966 *

William B. Buffum William Burnside Buffum (September 10, 1921 – April 13, 2012) was an official in the United States Department of State. Biography Buffum was born in Binghamton, New York on September 10, 1921. He served in the United States Army during World W ...

- January 1967 – 1970 *

W. Tapley Bennett Jr. William Tapley Bennett Jr. (April 1, 1917 – November 29, 1994) was an American diplomat who served as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic during the 1965 civil war and who recommended that President Johnson intervene with United States troops ...

- 1971 – 1977 *

James F. Leonard James Fulton Leonard Jr. (May 30, 1920 – August 29, 2020) was an American diplomat who served as Foreign Service Officer and United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1977–1979). He was born in Osborne, Pennsylvania in May 1920. He se ...

- 1977 – 1979 * William vanden Heuvel - 1979 - 1981 *

Kenneth L. Adelman Kenneth Lee Adelman (born June 9, 1946) is an American diplomat, political writer, policy analyst and William Shakespeare scholar. Adelman has been a member of the board of directors of the global data collection company RIWI Corp. since June 2016 ...

- confirmed July 29, 1981 – 1983 *

José S. Sorzano José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

- confirmed July 26, 1983 – 1985 *

Herbert S. Okun Herbert Stuart Okun (November 27, 1930 – November 8, 2011) was a United States Ambassador to East Germany (1980–1983) and the Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1985–1989). He was a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, a ...

- confirmed October 1, 1985 (following a recess appointment) – 1989 *

Alexander F. Watson Alexander Fletcher Watson (born August 8, 1939) is a retired American ambassador and diplomat. Biography Watson was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard College, earning an A.B. in government in 1961, and joined the Foreign Service ...

- confirmed August 4, 1989 – 1992 *

Edward S. Walker Jr. Edward S. Walker Jr. (born June 13, 1940) is a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the UAE and is a Middle East specialist. Early life Walker was born in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.A. at Hamilt ...

- confirmed October 8, 1992 – 1993 * Skip Gnehm - April 1994 – August 1997 *

Peter Burleigh Albert Peter Burleigh (born March 7, 1942) is an American diplomat who worked as a Foreign Service Officer and joined the American Academy of Diplomacy. Biography Burleigh was born March 7, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Colga ...

- August 1997 – December 1999 *

James B. Cunningham James Blair Cunningham (born 1952) is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan. Cunningham has served in various diplomatic positions, including Chief of Staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner (19 ...

- December 12, 1999 – July 2004 *

Anne W. Patterson Anne Woods Patterson (born 1949) is an American diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer. She served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She previously served as United States Ambassador to Egypt unt ...

- August 2004 – August 2005 *

Alejandro Daniel Wolff Alejandro Daniel Wolff (born 1956) is an American diplomat who served as the US Ambassador to Chile from 2010 to 2013. He was the acting U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations until Zalmay Khalilzad was appointed as permanent repres ...

- November 2005 – June 2010 *

Rosemary DiCarlo Rosemary Anne DiCarlo (born 1947) is an American diplomat who has served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs since May 2018. She previously served as acting United States Ambassador to the United Nati ...

- July 8, 2010 – c. November 1, 2014 *

Michele J. Sison Michele Jeanne Sison (born May 27, 1959, in Arlington, Virginia) is an American diplomat and career member of the Senior Foreign Service serving as the assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs. She has previously serve ...

- December 7, 2014 – February 21, 2018 * Kelley Eckels Currie (acting) - February 21, 2018 – June 8, 2018 * Jonathan Cohen - June 8, 2018 – November 17, 2019 *

Taryn Frideres Taryn is a feminine name of various meanings. Notable people Notable people with the name include: * Taryn Davidson (born 1991), Canadian model * Taryn Fiebig (1972–2021), Australian opera and musical theatre soprano and cellist * Taryn Fosh ...

- October 2019 - February 25, 2021 *

Richard M. Mills Jr. Richard Merrill Mills Jr. (born February 23, 1959) is an American diplomat who serves as the United States deputy ambassador to the United Nations. He served as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires and Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations ...

- November 9, 2020 – present *

Jeffrey Prescott Jeffrey Prescott is an American attorney and foreign policy advisor serving as the deputy to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the Biden administration. Education Prescott earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston Univ ...

- February 25, 2021 – present ^†These Deputy Ambassadors later served as full U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations position (see above).

Notes

References

External links