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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release February 14, 1997

        PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES THOMAS PICKERING UNDER SECRETARY
                     OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS

President Clinton today announced his intent to nominate Thomas Pickering of Orange, New Jersey, to become Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Ambassador Pickering retired from the United States Foreign Service in November 1996. He served as the Ambassador to Russia, India, the United Nations, Israel, Nigeria, El Salvador, and to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He was also Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES).

Mr. Pickering's career has been marked with various awards, all of which give ample demonstration of his management and policy skills. During his tenure in the Foreign Service, he achieved the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the United States Foreign Service. He earned an A.B. degree from Bowdoin College in 1953, an M.A. degree from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1954, and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Melbourne where he received a second Master's degree in 1956. He is a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations. He speaks fluent French, Swahili, and Spanish, and is conversant in Arabic and Hebrew.

As the Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the Department of State, Ambassador Pickering will assist the Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the formulation and conduct of foreign policy and in the overall direction of the Department, including coordination of relations with other departments and agencies.

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