The US Senate overwhelmingly approved the appointment of the veteran diplomat, Mr Richard Holbrooke, yesterday as the next US ambassador to the United Nations.
The Senate's confirmation of Mr Holbrooke, the main architect of the 1995 peace accord that ended the war in Bosnia, was held up by 14 months of delays involving both ethics questions and procedural squabbles.
"There's not an unethical drop of blood in this guy's veins," said the Delaware Senator, Mr Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of Mr Holbrooke and the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The US has been without a permanent representative at the UN since last September.