President-elect Joe Biden announced on Monday that he would nominate Linda Thomas-Greenfield to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a position that will likely be moved to the Cabinet level. If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the seventh woman and second Black woman to hold the position.
Thomas-Greenfield retired from a 35-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service in 2017, after serving as ambassador to Liberia, holding diplomatic postings around the world and serving as the assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs from 2013 to 2017.
“My mother taught me to lead with the power of kindness and compassion to make the world a better place,” Thomas-Greenfield said in a tweet after the nomination was announced. “I’ve carried that lesson with me throughout my career in Foreign Service — and, if confirmed, will do the same as Ambassador to the United Nations.”
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She is preceded by one other Black woman in this position: Susan Rice served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013 under former President Barack Obama.
Thomas-Greenfield is the first woman of color nominated for a Cabinet-level position by President-elect Joe Biden. The list of nominees released by Biden’s transition team included one other woman, Avril Haines for director of national intelligence, as well as Antony Blinken for secretary of state, Alejandro Mayorkas for secretary of Homeland Security, Jake Sullivan for national security adviser and John Kerry for special presidential envoy for climate.
