Wolfowitz, Paul

▪ 2006

      Already widely known as one of the main architects of the war in Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz took on a decidedly different role on the global stage in 2005: president of the World Bank. In his post as U.S. deputy secretary of defense, Wolfowitz had spent most of the previous four years being characterized as a warmonger by opponents of the administration of Pres. George W. Bush. Now he was at the helm of an organization trying to eradicate poverty in the less-developed world. Wolfowitz and his supporters saw the move as a logical progression in a career guided by a belief in the value of economic development as a means to achieve political stability. Critics feared that Wolfowitz, a neoconservative, would transform the World Bank into a tool to promote American interests.

      Paul Dundes Wolfowitz was born on Dec. 22, 1943, in Brooklyn, N.Y. His father, a Polish immigrant whose family died in the Holocaust, taught mathematics at Columbia University, New York City, and later at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., where the younger Wolfowitz, true to his father's wishes, earned his B.A. degree in mathematics in 1965. As a young man he began reading about history and politics, and in 1963 he traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in a civil rights march. Instead of further study in mathematics, he switched to political science and received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in that field in 1972.

      Wolfowitz went to work in Washington, first in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, where he was on the staff of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (1973–77), and then at the Pentagon as a deputy assistant secretary of defense (1977–80). During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and then as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia. There his exposure to a moderate Muslim society friendly toward the United States convinced him that American military might could be used as a force to promote democracy around the world. Under Pres. George H.W. Bush, Wolfowitz served as undersecretary of defense for policy, working on plans for the First Gulf War under Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. During the presidency of Bill Clinton, Wolfowitz left government for academia and served as dean of the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

      A soft-spoken man, Wolfowitz described himself as a “bleeding heart” when it came to social issues. His positions sometimes were no more popular with his allies than they were with his foes. He supported the overthrow of Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein at a time when the U.S. government still supported the dictator. He also drew the ire of other neoconservatives because he supported the formation of a separate Palestinian state in the Middle East. He said that his motivation for entering the world of politics was his desire to do what he could to prevent nuclear war.

Anthony G. Craine

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▪ United States government official

in full  Paul Dundes Wolfowitz 

born Dec. 22, 1943, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.

      U.S. government official, who, as deputy secretary of defense (2001–05) in the administration of Pres. George W. Bush (Bush, George W.), was a leading architect of the Iraq War. From 2005 to 2007 he was president of the World Bank.

      Wolfowitz's father, a Polish immigrant whose family died in the Holocaust, taught mathematics at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where Paul earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1965. As a young man, he began reading about history and politics, and in 1963 he traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in a civil rights march. Wolfowitz later studied political science at the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1972), where one of his professors was Leo Strauss (Strauss, Leo), a leading figure in neoconservatism.

      In 1973 Wolfowitz went to work in Washington, D.C., first in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, where he was on the staff of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (1973–77), and then at the Pentagon as a deputy assistant secretary of defense (1977–80). During the presidency of Ronald Reagan (Reagan, Ronald W.), he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and then as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia. There his exposure to a moderate Muslim society convinced him that American military might could be used as a force to promote democracy around the world. In the administration of Pres. George H.W. Bush (Bush, George), Wolfowitz served as undersecretary of defense for policy, working on plans for the Persian Gulf War (1990–91) under Defense Secretary Dick Cheney (Cheney, Dick) (later vice president in the George W. Bush administration). Wolfowitz then moved from government to academia, teaching at the National War College in Washington, D.C. (1993), and serving as dean (1994–2001) of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.

      In 2001 Wolfowitz returned to politics, becoming deputy secretary of defense under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Following the September 11 attacks later that year, Wolfowitz supported the invasion of Afghanistan and was a leading advocate of the subsequent U.S.-led attack on Iraq (Iraq War). The latter war proved controversial, and Wolfowitz drew much criticism for his support of the conflict (see Iraq War). In 2005 he left the Bush administration to become president of the World Bank. One of his major initiatives was curbing government corruption in countries receiving World Bank loans. In 2007 Wolfowitz faced calls for his resignation after it was revealed that two years earlier he had improperly arranged for the transfer and promotion of his girlfriend, who worked at the bank. Unable to quell the furor, Wolfowitz announced his resignation, effective June 30, 2007.

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