THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

                PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES INTENT TO NOMINATE ROBERT 
              A. PASTOR AS AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA

The President today announced his intent to nominate Robert A. Pastor, of Georgia, as Ambassador to the Republic of Panama.

Dr. Pastor has been Professor of Political Science at Emory University and Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Program at Emory's Carter Center since 1986. The author of nine books and over 200 articles on U. S. foreign policy and Latin America, he also served as Executive Secretary of the Council of Freely- Elected Heads of Government, a group of 23 hemispheric leaders led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The Council has monitored elections in eight countries in the Americas, including Panama, Nicaragua, and Haiti.

Robert Pastor was the Director of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs on the National Security Council during the Carter Administration. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of the Linowitz Commission on U. S.-Latin American Relations, a private group that recommended new Panama Canal Treaties.

Dr. Pastor was born on April 10, 1947 in Newark, New Jersey. He received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. A Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia, his languages are Spanish and Malay/Indonesian. He is married to the former Margaret E. McNamara. They have two children, Tiffin Margaret, age 13, and Robert Kiplin, age 11.

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