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, was former chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis.

Danforth attended St. Louis Country Day School and Princeton University, where he graduated with an A.B. in religion in 1958 after completing a 111-page 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 1964 to 1966. He was a partner at the law firm of Bryan, Cave, McPheeters and McRoberts in St. Louis from 1966 to 1968.[3]

Before Danforth entered Republican politics, Missouri was a reliably Democratic state with its U.S. senators and governors usually being Democrats. Danforth's seat in the Senate was previously held by Democrats Thomas Hart Benton, Harry S. Truman, and Stuart Symington.

Missouri Attorney General

Danforth as Attorney General, 1969

In 1968 Danforth was elected Missouri Attorney General, the first Republican elected statewide in 40 years. On his staff of assistant attorneys general were future Missouri Governor and U.S. Senator Kit Bond, future U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and future federal judge D. Brook Bartlett. 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. He 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. His resignation letter[9] 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."[10]

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 1995, following his departure from the Senate, Danforth again became a partner at the Bryan Cave law firm.[3]

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. He also hired Bryan Cave 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 nominee 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. One week before the 2000 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, campaign sources said that Dick Cheney, the man charged with leading the selection process for the nominee, had recommended Danforth,[11] but Bush selected Cheney himself. Bush wrote in his book Decision Points that Danforth would have been his choice if Cheney had not accepted.

In September 2001, Bush appointed Danforth a special envoy to Sudan. He brokered a peace deal[12] 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.

On June 11, 2004, Danforth presided over the funeral of Ronald Reagan, held at Washington National Cathedral.[13]

On March 30, 2005, Danforth wrote an op-ed 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".[14] He also penned a June 17, 2005, piece headlined "Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers".[15]

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.[16]

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."[17] Danforth is a member of the Reformers Caucus of Issue One.[18]

Danforth has received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[19] He is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope.[20]

Danforth officiated at the funerals of Washington Post executive Katharine Graham, former United States Senator Harry Flood Byrd Jr. of Virginia, and Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich.[21]

From the mid-2000s, Danforth was a mentor and political supporter of Josh Hawley, who became Attorney General of Missouri in 2017 and U.S. Senator in 2019 with Danforth's encouragement; Danforth also supported Hawley's presidential ambitions.[22] In the wake of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol and Hawley's efforts to challenge the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count, Danforth said that supporting Hawley in the 2018 election "was the worst mistake I ever made in my life".[23]

Danforth married the former Sally Dobson in 1957.[13] They have five children and 15 grandchildren.[24]

• 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. Description & preview. 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