Antony Blinken

Antony Blinken served as the 71st Secretary of State of the United States from January 2021 to January 2025, a role entrusted to him by President Joe Biden because of his long record in international relations and diplomacy.

Born in New York, he attended grade school and high school in Paris where he received a French baccalauréat degree with high honors, and he graduated from Harvard College and Columbia Law School. He has written extensively on foreign policy, including in The New Republic, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Foreign Affairs, among others, and is the author of Ally Versus Ally: America, Europe and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis (1987).

Blinken began his government service during the Clinton Administration at the State Department (European and Canadian Affairs), and continued his career in the White House in 1994 at the National Security Council, serving President Clinton as his chief foreign policy speechwriter and then senior advisor for European Affairs. Between 2002 and 2008, Blinken served as the right-hand man of (then Senator) Joe Biden, and between 2009 and 2017 in senior roles in the Obama Administration, including as Principal Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Secretary of State.

His foreign policy during the Biden years was characterized by a relentless emphasis on diplomacy as the cornerstone of international relations. He repeatedly spoke out publicly against the dehumanization he encountered in many conflict zones.

Blinken is also a music aficionado, who during his student days wrote numerous reviews about his great passion rock and roll, played in rock bands, and even released a few songs — three of which you can listen to on Spotify. As Secretary of State, he launched the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, based on the fundamental idea that music bridges borders and barriers of geography, language, and backgrounds — re-connecting us to our common humanity.