Paul Wolfowitz

Paul Wolfowitz
10th President of the World Bank Group From: June 1, 2005 – July 1, 2007
Predecessor	James Wolfensohn
Successor	Robert Zoellick
Former Deputy Secretary of Defense From: March 2, 2001 – June 1, 2005
Predecessor	Rudy de Leon
Successor	Gordon England
Former United States Ambassador to Indonesia From: April 11, 1986 – May 12, 1989
Predecessor	John H. Holdridge
Successor	John Cameron Monjo
Information
Party	Democrat (before 1981) Republican (1981 – present)
Spouse(s)	Clare Selgin (div.)
Religion	Jewish

Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943, age 79) is an American academic, neoconservative scholar and political figure; In the early 1970s, Paul Wolfowitz served as an aide to Democratic Party Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson; from 1986 to 1989, he served as ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia; then as undersecretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan; from 2001 to 2005, he served as the Deputy Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush where he was one of the main architects of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration and of the Iraq War; from 2005 to June 2007, he served as the President of the World Bank. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.^[1] Wolfowitz described himself as a "Scoop Jackson Republican".

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Wolfowitz expressed opposition towards Donald Trump, asserting in late August that year that he “might have to vote for Hillary Clinton”.^[2] However, he later stated at a podcast in April 2017 that he did not vote for Clinton nor Trump.^[3]

Education[edit]

Paul Wolfowitz's father Jacob Wolfowitz, was a Professor of Mathematics at Cornell University. Paul Wolfowitz has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Cornell University; a master's degree and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago.^[4] From 1994-2001, Paul Wolfowitz served as Dean and Professor of International Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University.^[5] Lewis "Scooter" Libby was one of his students when Wolfowitz served as a professor of Political Science at Yale University.^[6]

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz briefs reporters at the Pentagon about the ongoing campaign against the al Qaeda terrorist organization and the military capability of Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Eric Schmitt described Paul Wolfowitz as a "soft-spoken former aspiring-mathematician-turned-policymaker … [whose] world views … were forged by family history and in the halls of academia rather than in the jungles of Vietnam or the corridors of Congress … [His father] … escaped Poland after World War I. The rest of his father's family perished in the Holocaust." David Dudley described Wolfowitz as "liv[ing] in a world haunted by atrocities" and deeply affecting his son's personal and intellectual development. Speaking directly of the influence of the Holocaust on his own world-views, Wolfowitz said: "That sense of what happened in Europe in World War II has shaped a lot of my views … It's a very bad thing when people exterminate other people, and people persecute minorities. It doesn't mean you can prevent every such incident in the world, but it's also a mistake to dismiss that sort of concern as merely humanitarian and not related to real interest."

In August 1963, Paul Wolfowitz joined the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Deputy Secretary of Defense[edit]

Wolfowitz served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2001-05. During the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks he, along with his superior Donald Rumsfeld, advocated the expansion of the so-called War on Terror to include Saddam Hussein's Iraq as a target. In light of opposition to these proposals by other administration officials such as Colin Powell, during the course of 2002 they participated in a series of secret meetings in which they development a military doctrine centered on pre-emptive warfare. This became known as the "Bush Doctrine."^[7][8] As part of that development process, they were placed in charge by President Bush of the Office of Special Plans, a special Pentagon office designed specifically to collect and interpret intelligence regarding Iraq without the involvement of the CIA.^[9]

Tenure As President Of The World Bank[edit]

Other nations have been critical of Wolfowitz, and the criticisms intensified to calls for his ouster upon disclosure that in April 2007 he allegedly obtained a large pay raise and promotion for his girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza, a former bank official.^[10] He resigned on May 17, 2007 (effective June 30, 2007), as a result of an investigation by the World Bank Group's board of executive directors, which accepted his resignation, "ending a protracted and tumultuous battle over his stewardship, sparked by a promotion he arranged for his companion."^[11][12]

Books[edit]

Lewis D. Solomon, Van Vleck Professor of Law at George Washington University, has recently published a biography of Paul Wolfowitz titled Paul D. Wolfowitz: Visionary Intellectual, Policymaker, and Strategist.^[13]

Interviews[edit]

• Bush's Brain Trust by Sam Tanenhaus, Vanity Fair, July 2003.
• 'I'm Not a Unilateralist': Paul Wolfowitz Wants the World to Understand Him by Lally Weymouth, Newsweek, April 4, 2005.

See also[edit]

• That Bleeding Heart Wolfowitz by Christopher Hitchens, Slate, March 22, 2005.
• Paul Wolfowitz's political donations by Newsmeat.
• Communication from the Executive Directors of the World Bank Group, World Bank Group, May 1, 2007.
• With the Best of Intentions by Michael Hirsh, Newsweek, May 21, 2007.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Paul Wolfowitz - AEI