List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nations

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. Alleged 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 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. 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 – December 29, 2025 – present † 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 ==