John Negroponte
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| John Dimitri Negroponte | |
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| In office April 21, 2005 – February 13, 2007 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | none; newly created office |
| Succeeded by | John Michael McConnell |
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| In office February 13, 2007 – January 20, 2009 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Robert Zoellick |
| Succeeded by | Jim Steinberg Jacob Lew |
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| In office May 6, 2004 – 2005 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | L. Paul Bremer (as Director of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance) |
| Succeeded by | Zalmay Khalilzad |
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| In office 2001–2004 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Richard Holbrooke James B. Cunningham (acting) |
| Succeeded by | John Danforth |
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| In office 1987–1989 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Colin Powell |
| Succeeded by | Robert Gates |
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| In office 1993–1996 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Richard H. Solomon |
| Succeeded by | Thomas C. Hubbard |
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| In office 1989–1993 | |
| Preceded by | Charles J. Pilliod, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | James Robert Jones |
| President | George H.W. Bush |
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| In office 1981–1985 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Jack R. Binns |
| Succeeded by | John Arthur Ferch |
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| Born | July 21, 1939 London, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Diana Villiers Negroponte |
| Children | Marina, Alexandra, John, George, Sophia |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Profession | Diplomat |
John Dimitri Negroponte (born July 21, 1939 in London, England, United Kingdom) (pronounced /ˌnɛɡroʊˈpɒnti/) is an American diplomat. He is currently a research fellow and lecturer in international affairs at Yale University's MacMillan Center. Prior to this appointment, he served as the United States Deputy Secretary of State and as the first ever Director of National Intelligence.
Negroponte served in the United States Foreign Service from 1960 to 1997. From 1981 to 1996, he had tours of duty as United States ambassador in Honduras, Mexico, and the Philippines. After leaving the Foreign Service, he subsequently served in the Bush Administration as U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2001 to 2004, and was ambassador to Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005.
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[edit] Background
Negroponte was born in London to Greek parents Dimitri John and Catherine Coumantaros Negroponte. His father was a Greek shipping magnate. Negroponte attended the Allen-Stevenson School in New York City and Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1956, and Yale University in 1960. He was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, alongside William H.T. Bush, the uncle of President George W. Bush, and Porter Goss, who served as Director of Central Intelligence and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Negroponte from 2005 to 2006.[1]
After less than a semester at Harvard Law School, Negroponte joined the Foreign Service.[2] He later served at eight different Foreign Service posts in Asia (including the US Embassy, Saigon[3]), Europe and Latin America; and he also held important positions at the State Department and the White House. In 1981, he became the U.S. ambassador to Honduras. From 1985 to 1987, Negroponte held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Subsequently, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from 1987 to 1989; Ambassador to Mexico, from 1989 to 1993; and Ambassador to the Philippines from 1993 to 1996. As Deputy National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, he was involved in the campaign to remove from power General Manuel Noriega in Panama. From 1997 until his appointment as ambassador to the UN, Negroponte was an executive with McGraw-Hill.
Negroponte speaks five languages (English, French, Greek, Spanish, and Vietnamese). He is the elder brother of Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and of the One Laptop per Child project. His brother Michel Negroponte is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, and his other brother, George Negroponte, is an artist and was President of the Drawing Center from 2002-2007. Negroponte and his wife, the former Diana Mary Villiers (b. 14 August 1947), have five children: Marina, Alexandra, John, George and Sophia. They were married on December 14, 1976.
