Paul Wolfowitz

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

Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (b. December 22, 1943) is an American academic, neoconservative thinker and political figure; he was a prominent architect of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration and the Iraq War. 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; from 2001 to 2005, he served as the Deputy Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration; he is currently the President of the World Bank. Wolfowitz described himself as a "Scoop Jackson Republican".

Other nations have been critical of Wolfowitz, and the criticisms intensified to calls for his ouster upon disclosure that in April of 2007 he allegedly obtained a large pay raise and promotion for his girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza, a former bank official. 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."

Education

Paul Wolfowitz's father Jacob Wolfowitz, was a Professor of Mathematics at Cornell University. Paul Wolfowitz has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry from Cornell University; a Master's degree and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. 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. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was one of his students when Wolfowitz taught courses in the Department of Political Science at Yale University.

Military Service

Did not serve despite being eligible for service during the Viet Nam War.

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.

Books

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.

Interviews

• 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

• 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.