THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Martha's Vineyard, Masachusetts)
______________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release August 29, 1997
PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES THOMAS S. FOLEY AS
AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN
The President today announced his intent to nominate Thomas S. Foley to be the Ambassador to Japan.
Former Speaker Thomas Foley, of Spokane, Washington, worked for his father's law firm from 1957 to 1958, and then, from 1958 to 1960, served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Spokane County, Washington. In 1960, Speaker Foley was selected as an Assistant State Attorney General of Washington. He served as Special Counsel to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs in the United States Senate in 1961. Elected to the United States House of Representatives by the Fifth Congressional District of Washington, in 1965, Speaker Foley represented his Washington district until 1994. In 1989, he was elected Speaker of the United States Representatives. Since 1995, Speaker Foley has been a partner of the law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld.
Speaker Foley was educated in public and private schools. He attended Gonzaga University from 1947 to 1950 and received his B.A. from the University of Washington in 1951. In 1957, Speaker Foley received his J.D. from the University of Washington Law School. He is married to the former Heather Strachen and they reside in Washington, D.C. and Spokane, Washington.