US Senate Confirms Samantha Power as New U.N. Ambassador

WASHINGTON, DC — – Human rights advocate Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and foreign policy advisor to President Obama, won confirmation Thursday as the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

The Senate voted 87-10 in favor of Power, a former White House national security staffer and former journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for her book “A Problem from Hell,” a study of U.S. failure to prevent genocide.

“As a longtime champion of human rights and dignity, she will be a fierce advocate for universal rights, fundamental freedoms and U.S. national interests,” Obama said in a statement. “I’m grateful that Samantha will continue to be a vital member of my national security team, and I know that under her leadership our UN mission in New York will continue to represent American diplomacy at its best.”

Power, 42, is best-known for her 2002 book, “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” the work that caught Obama’s attention as a new member of the U.S. Senate.

The book pointed out the successes and failures of the United States in responding to mass atrocities, ideas that Power echoed in many public speeches and interviews after its publication.

During her confirmation hearing Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, comended Power for her principled position on the Armenian Genocide. “You have been an unrelenting, principled voice when it comes to human rights and crimes against humanity – and I know that voice will be heard around the world — should you be confirmed,” adding: “Personally, I am incredibly appreciative of the principled position you’ve taken on the Armenian Genocide. In 2007, you wrote in Time Magazine – ‘a stable, fruitful, 21st century relationship’ [with Turkey] cannot be built on a lie,’ and I completely agree.”

Power replaces outgoing ambassador Susan Rice.