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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release February 14, 1997

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES STUART E. EIZENSTAT TO BE UNDER SECRETARY

OF STATE FOR ECONOMICS, BUSINESS, AND AGRICULTURE

President Clinton today announced his intent to nominate Stuart E. Eizenstat of Chevy, Chase, Maryland, to become Under Secretary of State for Economics, Business, and Agriculture. Ambassador Eizenstat currently serves as the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade. He also serves as the Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State for the promotion of Democracy in Cuba, where he has helped build an international consensus to promote human rights and democracy in Cuba. Ambassador Eizenstat also is the Special Envoy for Property Claims in Central and Eastern Europe and in this capacity has been asked by the President to coordinate the Administration-wide effort to determine the role of the U.S. and other governments in the trading and distribution of raw gold and other assets during and after World War II. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels from 1993 to 1996. In that capacity, he was one of the principal authors of the new Transatlantic Agenda to strengthen the bonds between the U.S. and Europe in the post-Cold War era.

Prior to joining the Clinton Administration, Ambassador Eizenstat was Vice Chairman of the law firm of Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy of Atlanta and Washington. His extensive experience in government includes policy positions in the Johnson Administration (1967-1968) and in the Carter Administration where he served as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff (1977-1981). He was previously a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and served on the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government for 10 years. Ambassador Eizenstat has written extensively on a variety of public policy, international, economic, civic and religious activities. He has been a leader in a variety of religious, cultural, and political organizations and has served on the boards of major corporations and non-profit institutions. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Ambassador Eizenstat is an honors and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina and Harvard Law School, where he has served on the Harvard Law School Association.

The Under Secretary for Economics, Business, and Agriculture is responsible for providing the Secretary of State with broad perspective on the development and implementation of U.S. foreign economic policy.

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