NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note                                          

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

John C. Danforth, the new Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Until his nomination as President George W. Bush’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations last month, the former United States Senator was a partner with the law firm of Bryan Cave LLP, a diversified national and international law practice.  In 2001, President Bush appointed Mr. Danforth to the post of Special Envoy for Peace to the Sudan, representing his Government in ongoing peace talks to help settle the long-running civil war between the northern and southern Sudanese.

He represented the state of Missouri in the United States Senate for 18 years, beginning in 1976.  He was the first Republican Senator in the history of his state to have been elected to three terms to the United States Senate.  Prior to his retirement from the Senate at the end of 1994, the new American envoy ranked twenty-first in seniority among the 100 senators serving on three key committees:  the Committee on Finance; Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Mr. Danforth was elected Attorney General of Missouri in 1968, in his first race for public office.  He was re-elected in 1972.  Before seeking public office, the American diplomat practised law in New York City and St. Louis.

He is ordained to the Clergy of the Episcopal Church, in which he has served in numerous capacities, including as honorary associate at St. Alban’s Church in Washington, a member of the governing board of the Washington Cathedral, honorary Canon of Christ Cathedral in St. Louis, and associate priest at the Church of the Holy Communion in University City.

A fifth generation Missourian, Mr. Danforth was born on 5 September 1936 in St. Louis, and raised in nearby Clayton.  He received his secondary education at St. LouisCountyDay School and graduated with honours from PrincetonUniversity in 1958.  In 1963, he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from YaleDivinitySchool and Bachelor of Law degree from YaleLawSchool.  Mr. Danforth has also received honorary degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia, WashingtonUniversity, St. LouisUniversity, and the College of the Holy Cross, among others.

He is married with five children.

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