Rahm Emanuel

About

Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms. Emanuel was the White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010 under President Barack Obama and served as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019. He served as United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 to 2025.
Born in Chicago, Emanuel is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College (BA) and Northwestern University (MA). Early in his career, Emanuel served as director of the finance committee for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. In 1993, he joined the Clinton administration, where he served as assistant to the president for political affairs and as senior advisor to the president for policy and strategy. Emanuel worked at the investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. for two-and-a-half years and served on the board of directors of Freddie Mac. In 2002, he was elected to the congressional seat vacated by Rod Blagojevich, who had resigned to become governor of Illinois. Emanuel represented Illinois’s 5th congressional district from 2003 to 2009. As chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign…