The announcement on Monday of John R. Bolton’s decision to step down was greeted by United Nations officials with relief, while diplomats from other nations offered mixed assessments of his effectiveness during his 17 months as the American envoy. “ ‘No comment,’ he said with a smile,” Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary general, said over his shoulder to reporters as he hustled to a meeting. Mr. Malloch Brown had angered Mr. Bolton during the summer by accusing the United States of “stealth diplomacy” — turning to the United Nations when Washington needed it while showing public disdain for the institution. At the time, Mr. Bolton demanded that Secretary General Kofi Annan “personally and publicly” repudiate Mr. Malloch Brown’s remarks, but Mr. Annan stood by them.
Mr. Bolton’s relationship with Mr. Annan was also marked by testiness, with the American repeatedly ducking opportunities to commend Mr. Annan by declining comment or saying, as he did last month, “I’ll pass.”