President George W. Bush has bypassed the Senate and appointed John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations.
John Bolton adjusts his glasses as he testifies at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination in Washington last April
The move, confirmed in a White House ceremony, came over the protests of Senate Democrats who complained that the blunt, combative Mr Bolton lacked credibility.
Senate Democrats have stalled the nomination of Mr Bolton, a favorite of conservatives and outspoken critic of the United Nations, over accusations he tried to manipulate intelligence and intimidated intelligence analysts to support his hawkish views while serving as the top US diplomat for arms control in Mr Bush's first term.
But Mr Bush has been insistent that Mr Bolton has the type of personality to pursue reforms at the United Nations and wants to get him into office to prepare for the UN General Assembly next month.
Mr Bush was making Mr Bolton a "recess appointment," taking advantage of a loophole that allows him to make such appointments when Congress is in recess.
Mr Bolton would be able to serve until January 2007, when a new Congress is sworn in.
In making the appointment, Mr Bush was calculating that Senate outrage would be limited and not spill over to confound his nomination of John Roberts as a Supreme Court justice, who he hopes will be in place at the high court by the time it reconvenes in October.