John Negroponte Fast Facts

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Here’s a look at the life of former Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

Personal

Birth date: July 21, 1939

Birth place: London, England

Birth name: John Dimitri Negroponte

Father: Dimitri John Negroponte, shipping magnate

Mother: Catherine (Coumantaros) Negroponte

Marriage: Diana (Villiers) Negroponte (December 1976-present)

Children: Marina, Alejandra, John, George and Sophia

Education: Yale University, B.A., 1960

Other Facts

Speaks five languages: English, French, Greek, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Attended Harvard Law School for one week. Left after he was accepted into the Foreign Service.

All of his children were adopted from Honduras.

Has been accused of having knowledge of human rights abuses happening while he was ambassador to Honduras. Negroponte denies these claims.

Has taught at Yale and George Washington University.

Timeline

1960-1997 - Member of the Career Foreign Service, serving at eight different posts in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

1968-1969 - Member of the US delegation to Paris peace talks on Vietnam.

1973-1975 - Serves as a political counselor in Quito, Ecuador.

1975-1977 - US Consul General in Thessaloniki, Greece.

1977-1979 - Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and Fisheries Affairs.

1980-1981 - Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

1981-1985 - US Ambassador to Honduras.

1985-1987 - Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and Environmental and Scientific Affairs.

1987-1989 - Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

1989-1993 - US Ambassador to Mexico.

1993-1996 - US Ambassador to the Philippines.

1997-2001 - Executive Vice President at McGraw-Hill Companies.

2001-2004 - US Ambassador to the United Nations.

April 19, 2004 - President George W. Bush nominates Negroponte to be US ambassador to Iraq. He is confirmed by the Senate May 6.

February 17, 2005 - Bush names Negroponte as the country’s first director of national intelligence. He is confirmed by the Senate April 21.

January 5, 2007 - Bush nominates Negroponte as deputy secretary of state.

2007-2009 - Deputy Secretary of State.

2009 - Joins advisory firm McLarty Associates.

2012-2015 - Chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) Board of Directors.

2018-present - Serves as the James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for Public Affairs.

February 13, 2020 - Negroponte’s daughter, Sophia, is arrested and charged with murder after being accused of stabbing a man to death at a home in Rockville, Maryland. She is later found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

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