John D. Holum Explained

Office:12th Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
Term End:August 7, 2000
Term Start:December 1, 1997
Preceded:Lynn Etheridge Davis
Succeeded:John R. Bolton
Birth Date:December 4, 1940
Birth Place:Highmore, South Dakota
Education:Northern Michigan College (BA)
George Washington University (JD)

John D. Holum (born December 4, 1940) was Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security under Bill Clinton.[1]

Biography

John D. Holum was born on December 4, 1940, in Highmore, South Dakota.[2] He received a B.A. in mathematics and physics from Northern Michigan College (now Northern Michigan University) and a J.D. from George Washington University School of Law in 1970.[2]

From 1965 to 1979 he worked as legislative director for Senator George McGovern.[2] When McGovern ran for president in 1972, Holum wrote his 56-page position paper on defense policy, which advocated cutting the defense budget from $87.3 billion in 1972 to $54.8 billion in 1975, a proposal Theodore White characterized as "an extraordinary flight of one man's imagination."[3] From 1979 to 1981, he worked as a Policy Planning staffer in the U.S. Department of State.[2] From 1981 to 1992, he worked in Washington, D.C. for O'Melveny & Myers.[2] In 1992, he joined Bill Clinton's campaign, until he was appointed as Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1993.[2] He served as Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 1997 until he was confirmed in 2000.[2] He left his job in 2001, with George W. Bush's administration.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. William J. Clinton, 'Letter on the Swearing-In of John D. Holum as Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency ', December 15, 1993 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46245
  2. Web site: Biography at the University of Chicago . 2009-02-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194917/http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/acda/aboutacd/holum.htm . 2016-03-03 . dead .
  3. [Theodore H. White|White, Theodore]