John D. Holum
John D. Holum was Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security under Bill Clinton.Biography
John D. Holum was born on December 4, 1940 in Highmore, South Dakota. He received a B.A. in mathematics and physics from Northern Michigan College and a J.D. from George Washington University School of Law in 1970.
From 1965 to 1979 he worked as legislative director for Senator George McGovern. When McGovern ran for president in 1972, Holum wrote his 56-page position paper on defense policy, which advocated cutting the defense budget from $87.3 billion in 1972 to $54.8 billion in 1975, a proposal Theodore White characterized as "an extraordinary flight of one man's imagination." From 1979 to 1981, he worked as a Policy Planning staffer in the U.S. Department of State. From 1981 to 1992, he worked in Washington, D.C. for O’Melveny & Myers. In 1992, he joined Bill Clinton's campaign, until he was appointed as Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1993. He served as Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 1997 until he was confirmed in 2000. He left his job in 2001, with George W. Bush's administration.
