List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nations

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:United Nations series The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of 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 position in the ambassador's 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 the 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 Mike Waltz, who was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate on September 19, 2025.

In January 2025, following his presidential inauguration, Donald Trump formally nominated 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. Trump withdrew the nomination on March 27, 2025. On May 1, 2025, Trump announced via social media that he intended to nominate Mike Waltz to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the UN. He was confirmed 47–43 by the Senate on September 19, 2025.

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.

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), but was once again elevated under the Obama administration, and initially retained as such by the first Trump administration during the tenure of Nikki Haley. 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. It was again downgraded to non-Cabinet rank under the second Trump administration.

Former UN ambassador and national security advisor John Bolton has publicly opposed the granting of Cabinet-level status to the office, stating in 2008 "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

1. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline

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

#	Portrait	Name	Start	End	President
1	File:STETTINIUS, EDWARD R (3x4 cropped).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1945–1953)
—	File:Herschel Johnson (1945).jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
2	File:Warren Austin (3x4 cropped).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:DtsTemplate:Efn
3	File:Henry Cabot Lodge Jr (R-MA) (cropped).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1953–1961)
4	File:James Jeremiah Wadsworth (3x4 cropped).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:DtsTemplate:Efn
5	File:Portrait of Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson II (3x4 crop).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1961–1963)
					rowspan="4" style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1963–1969)
6	File:Arthur Goldberg (1971).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
7	File:Advisors, Under Secretary of State George Ball (3x4 cropped).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
8	File:JamesWiggins.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
9	File:AmbassadorCWYost.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1969–1974)
10	File:George H. W. Bush official CIA portrait (1).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
11	File:John Scali.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
					rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1974–1977)
12	File:Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1976.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
13	File:William Scranton (PA).png		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
14	File:Andrew Jackson Young.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1977–1981)
15	File:UnitedNationsAmbassadorMcHenry.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
16	File:Od jeane-kirkpatrick-official-portrait 1-255x301.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1981–1989)
17	File:Ambassador Vernon A. Walters.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:DtsTemplate:Efn
18	File:ThomasRPickering.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1989–1993)
19	File:Ambassador Perkins (cropped).jpg		Template:Dts	Template:DtsTemplate:Efn
20	File:Secalbright.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=4 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(1993–2001)
21	File:RichardsonAmb.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:Peter Burleigh (4x5 cropped).jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
22	File:Richard Holbrooke.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:James B Cunningham.jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=7 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(2001–2009)
23	File:John Negroponte official portrait State.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
24	File:John Danforth.png		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:Anne W Patterson ambassador 2011.jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
25	File:John R. Bolton.png		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:Alejandro D. Wolff US State Dept photo.jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
26	File:Khalilzad.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:DtsTemplate:Efn
27	File:Susan Rice, official State Dept photo portrait, 2009.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(2009–2017)
—	File:Rosemary DiCarlo official portrait (cropped).jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
28	File:Samantha Power official portrait.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:Michele Sison official photo.jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=4 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(2017–2021)
29	File:Nikki Haley official photo.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:Jonathan R. Cohen official photo.jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
30	File:Kelly Knight Craft.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:RichardMillsJr.jpg	Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(2021–2025)
31	File:Linda-Thomas-Greenfield-v1-8x10-1.jpg		Template:Dts	Template:Dts
—	File:Dorothy C. Shea official photo.jpg	Dorothy Shea Acting	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |	(2025–present)
32	File:Official Portrait of UN Ambassador Mike Waltz.jpg		Template:Dts	present

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. The deputy ambassador assumes the duties of the position in the ambassador's absence.

• 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 – November 22, 2025
• Tammy Bruce – TBD

^† These deputy ambassadors later served as full U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations (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 – January 20, 2025

See also

• Residence of the United States ambassador to the United Nations