Jon Huntsman Jr.

Jon Meade Huntsman, Jr. (born March 26, 1960) is an American businessman, diplomat and politician. He was the 8th United States Ambassador to Russia from October 3, 2017 to October 3, 2019 for the Donald Trump administration. He was the 11th United States Ambassador to Singapore from September 22, 1992 through June 15, 1993. He served as the 16th Governor of Utah from January 3, 2005 through August 11, 2009. During the Barack Obama administration, Huntsman served as the United States Ambassador to China from August 28, 2009 through April 28, 2011.

Huntsman ran for president in the 2012 United States presidential election, but lost the Republican nomination to Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

On March 8, 2017, Huntsman accepted a position as United States Ambassador to Russia under the nomination from President Donald Trump. He was sworn in on October 3, 2017. On August 6, 2019, Huntsman submitted his resignation letter to President Donald Trump as Ambassador to Russia, effective October 3, 2019. He unsuccessfully ran for Utah Governor again in the 2020 race.

Early life
Huntsman was born in Palo Alto, California, but went to school in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father is businessman Jon Huntsman Sr.. He dropped out of high school to be in a rock band.  Later, he got a G.E.D. and went to college at the Universities of Utah and Pennsylvania.

Political career
After living in Taipei for a year, Huntsman served in the Reagan and Bush Administrations.  He was Ambassador to Singapore when he was only 32.  When Bill Clinton was President, Huntsman ran his family's multimillion-dollar chemical company.  He served as George W. Bush's Ambassador to Indonesia and Deputy Trade Representative.

In 2004, Huntsman was elected Governor of Utah.  While in office, he cut taxes.  While governor, most people in Utah approved of him.  He was re-elected in 2008, but resigned as Barack Obama's Ambassador to China.  Huntsman served in that capacity from 2009 to 2011.  While Ambassador, he watched some Chinese protest; this led to the Chinese blocking his name on Google for a while.

2012 United States presidential campaign
Huntsman was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 Republican primaries.  He was one of the most moderate candidates running in the primaries. Huntsman ran on his strong record of job creation in Utah, which had the highest job creation rate in America while he was governor. He has also polled near the bottom of the candidates in the race, although he had a strong showing in New Hampshire. He lost the primaries to Mitt Romney.

Russian ambassador
On March 8, 2017, Trump nominated Huntsman to serve as the United States Ambassador to Russia. He began the position on October 3, 2017. He resigned in October 2019.

2020 Utah gubernatorial election
On November 14, 2019, Huntsman announced his plans to run for Governor of Utah again in the 2020 election. He lost the Republican nomination to Spencer Cox in July 2020.

Personal life
Huntsman is a Mormon and went on a Mormon mission in Asia, but has explored other faiths.  Huntsman is also an Eagle Scout.   Huntsman has seven kids. Two of them are adopted. One of his children, is Abby Huntsman who is a co-host of The View.

In October 2018, Huntsman was diagnosed with stage-1 melanoma and is seeking treatment at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

References

Other websites

 Horizon PAC
 Huntsman Presidential Campaign Staff 
 
 Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
 Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
 Biography at the United States Department of State (archived)
 Michael Brendan Dougherty, Jon Huntsman, the No-Drama Conservative, The American Conservative, August 24, 2011
 "Jon Huntsman Could Do Without Bill Clinton’s Kudos", Andrew Goldman, The New York Times Magazine, 4 January 2013

1960 births
Living people
Ambassadors of the United States to China
Governors of Utah
Politicians from California
US Republican Party politicians
2012 United States presidential candidates
People from Palo Alto, California
Politicians from Salt Lake City, Utah
People with cancer
Ambassadors of the United States to Russia