John Danforth

Danforth was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Dorothy (Claggett) and Donald Danforth.[1] He is the grandson of William H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina. Danforth's brother, William Henry Danforth, is former chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis.

Danforth attended St. Louis Country Day School and went on to Princeton University, where he graduated with an A.B. in religion in 1958 after completing a 111-page long senior thesis titled "Christ and Meaning: An Interpretation of Reinhold Niebuhr's Christology."[2] He received degrees from Yale Law School and Yale Divinity School in 1963.

Danforth practiced law at the New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1963 to 1968

Before Danforth entered Republican politics, Missouri was a reliably Democratic state with both its U.S. Senators and Governors regularly being Democrats. Prior to Symington, Danforth's seat in the Senate was held by Democratic Party heavyweights Thomas Hart Benton and Harry S. Truman.

Missouri Attorney General

Danforth as Attorney General, 1969

Danforth was elected in 1968 at the age of 32 to be Missouri Attorney General, the first Republican elected statewide in 40 years. On his staff of assistant attorneys general were Kit Bond, John Ashcroft, D. Brook Bartlett, and Clarence Thomas. Danforth was reelected in 1972.

UN Ambassador

Danforth's swearing in to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations by Justice Clarence Thomas, his former assistant

On July 1, 2004, Danforth was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, succeeding John Negroponte, who left the post after becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq in June. Danforth is best remembered for attempts to bring peace to the Sudan but stayed at the UN for just six months. Danforth was mentioned as a successor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Six days after the announcement that Condoleezza Rice was going to take the position Danforth submitted his resignation on November 22, 2004, effective January 20, 2005. Danforth's resignation letter[8] said, "Forty-seven years ago, I married the girl of my dreams, and, at this point in my life, what is most important to me is to spend more time with her."[9]

Report to the Deputy Attorney General Concerning the 1993 Confrontation at the Mt. Carmel Complex, Waco, Texas, John Danforth, Independent Counsel, November 8, 2000. Federal government document.

In 1999, Democratic U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Danforth to lead an investigation into the FBI's role in the 1993 Waco Siege. Danforth appointed Democratic U.S. Attorney Edward L. Dowd Jr. for the Eastern District of Missouri as his deputy special counsel for Waco. He also hired Bryan Cave law firm partner Thomas A. Schweich as his chief of staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney James G. Martin served as Danforth's director of investigative operations for what became known as the "Waco Investigation" or "Danforth Report."

In July 2000, Danforth's name was leaked as being on the short list of potential vice presidential nominees for Republican candidate George W. Bush, along with Michigan Governor John Engler, New York Governor George Pataki, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, and former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole. Just one week before the 2000 Republican National Convention was to be held in Philadelphia, campaign sources said that Dick Cheney, the man charged with leading the selection process for the nominee, had recommended Danforth to Bush for the position.[10] However, despite growing speculation that Danforth was Bush's final pick, Bush selected Cheney himself for the position. Bush wrote in his autobiography Decision Points that Danforth would have been his choice if Cheney did not accept.

In September 2001, President Bush appointed Danforth a special envoy to Sudan. He brokered a peace deal[11] that officially ended the civil war in the South between Sudan's Islamic government and Christian-backed Sudanese rebels, but elements of that conflict still remain unresolved (as has the separate Darfur conflict). The Second Sudanese Civil War ended in January 2005, with the signing of a peace agreement. Due to the Islamic-dominated North's military superiority, most of southern Sudan was decimated and the Christian rebels, and thus Danforth, achieved little for their efforts.

On June 11, 2004, Danforth presided over the funeral of Ronald Reagan, held at Washington National Cathedral.

On March 30, 2005, Danforth wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times critical of the Republican party. The article began: "By a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians...".[12] The article by an ordained Episcopal priest (followed by a June 17, 2005 piece headlined "Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers"[13]) ignited considerable debate. The Washington Post on February 2, 2006, headlined its article "'St. Jack' and the Bullies in the Pulpit".[14]

On May 9, 2012, Danforth became part of a group, led by son-in-law and Summitt Distributing CEO Tom Stillman, that took over ownership of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.

In 2015, Danforth joined 299 other Republicans in signing an amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage.[15]

Contributing to the anthology Our American Story (2019), Danforth addressed the possibility of a shared American narrative and focused on the "great American purpose" of "hold[ing] together in one nation a diverse and often contentious people." He encouraged continued work "to demand a functioning government where compromise is the norm, to integrate all our people into one indivisible nation, and to incorporate separated individuals into the wholeness of the community."[16] Danforth is a member of the Reformers Caucus of Issue One.[17]

Danforth has received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[18] He is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope.[19]As an ordained Episcopal priest, Danforth officiated the funeral services of former president Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004 at the Washington National Cathedral although Ronald Reagan was not an Episcopalian. He did the same for Washington Post executive Katharine Graham in 2001, also at the National Cathedral. He also officiated the funeral services of former United States Senator Harry Flood Byrd Jr. of Virginia at Christ Episcopal Church in Winchester on August 3, 2013. He also officiated at the funeral services of Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich in March, 2015.[20]

Danforth married the former Sally Dobson in 1957. They have five children and 15 grandchildren.

• Resurrection: The Confirmation of Clarence Thomas, Viking, 1994
• Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together, Viking Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0670037872
• The Relevance of Religion: How Faithful People Can Change Politics, Random House, 2015. ISBN 978-0812997903

Wikiquote has quotations related to: John Danforth

• George H. W. Bush Supreme Court candidates
• List of Attorneys General of Missouri

Media related to John Danforth at Wikimedia Commons

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• UN Press release on becoming US Ambassador to the UN