File:John R. Bolton at CPAC 2017 February 24th 2017 by Michael Vadon 03.jpg

English: John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican administrations. Bolton served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006 as a recess appointee by President George W. Bush.[1] He resigned in December 2006, when the recess appointment would have otherwise ended,[2][3] because he was unlikely to win confirmation from the Senate in which a newly elected Democratic Party majority would be taking control in January 2007.[4][5]

Bolton is currently a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),[6] senior advisor for Freedom Capital Investment Management,[7] a Fox News Channel commentator, and of counsel to the Washington, D.C. law firm Kirkland & Ellis.[8] He was a foreign policy adviser to 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.[9] Bolton is also involved with a number of politically conservative think tanks and policy institutes, including the Institute of East-West Dynamics, the National Rifle Association, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Council for National Policy (CNP) and the Gatestone Institute,[10] where he serves as the organization Chairman. Bolton has been labeled as a neoconservative,[11] though he personally rejects the term.[12] He has been a prominent participant in several neoconservative groups, like the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and the Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf (CPSG).

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; /ˈsiːpæk/ see-pak) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU).[1] In 2011, ACU took CPAC on the road with its first Regional CPAC in Orlando, Florida. Since then ACU has hosted regional CPACs in Chicago, Denver, St. Louis, and San Diego. Political front runners take the stage at this convention.

Speakers have included Donald Trump,[2]Ronald Reagan,[3][4][5] George W. Bush,[6] Dick Cheney,[7] Pat Buchanan,[8] Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich,[6] Sarah Palin, Ron Paul,[9] Mitt Romney,[6] Tony Snow,[6] Glenn Beck,[10] Rush Limbaugh,[11] Ann Coulter,[7] Allen West,[12] Michele Bachmann,[13] Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Gary Johnson, Mike Pence, Jeanine Pirro, Betsy DeVos, Lou Dobbs, and other conservative public figures.