Robert Penn Warren was the first person to hold this government appointment.
Postmaster General
Ambassador to the Vatican
Poet Laureate
Civil Service Commission Director
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, appointed in 1986. From 1937 to 1985 the position was called Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Warren won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for poetry and one for fiction for his novel All the King’s Men. He also served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1972 to 1988.