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Wolfowitz Resigns; Officially Leaves Post in June
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz returns to his home in Maryland after the bank announced his resignation.
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World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has resigned. Pressure for Wolfowitz to step down has grown since the release of a report on his handling of a 2005 pay raise for his girlfriend, who is also a bank employee.
Under the terms of the resignation, Wolfowitz will leave office at the end of June. But he is expected to remove himself immediately from the bank's day-to-day business.
The announcement followed two days of intense negotiations between Wolfowitz and the bank's executive board. The negotiations mostly involved the language that the announcement would be phrased in — and how Wolfowitz's resignation would be explained.
Wolfowitz would seem to have prevailed in at least part of that discussion: The bank released two statements about the resignation — one from the board and one from Wolfowitz.
While the board's version of events weighs in at 415 words, Wolfowitz took 1,999 words to touch on a number of subjects, from the bank's duty to serve Africa's poor to a list of the agency's accomplishments during his tenure.
Wolfowitz's final paragraph began, "Change should not be feared, it is something to welcome."
Speaking at a Rose Garden press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday, President Bush seemed to suggest that Wolfowitz was ready to leave.
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"I regret that it's come to this," the president said. "I admire Paul Wolfowitz. I admire his heart. And I particularly admired his focus on helping the poor."
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