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THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary 
                   (Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts)
______________________________________________________________________ 
For Immediate Release                                September 2, 1997 

                 PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES JULIA V. TAFT AS 
                    ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR POPULATION, 
        REFUGEES AND MIGRATION AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

President Clinton today announced his intent to nominate Julia V. Taft, to be Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration.

Ms. Julia Vadala Taft, of Washington, D.C., is a leading authority on refugee affairs and humanitarian assistance. She began her career in Washington, D.C. as a White House Fellow in 1970. She later became Special Assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) and then a Deputy Assistant Secretary. In 1975 Ms. Taft directed the U.S. Government's Indochinese refugee resettlement program, and later served as Acting U.S. Coordinator of Refugees in the Department of State. From 1986 to 1989, Ms. Taft was the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. Ms. Taft is currently President and CEO of InterAction, the American Council for Voluntary International Action, which is an umbrella organization of over 150 U.S. based private, voluntary agencies working internationally on sustainable development and humanitarian programs. Ms. Taft received her B.A. in 1964 and M.A. in 1969 from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Affairs is responsible for planning and managing Department of State programs for population policy formulation and implementation; coordination of the department's policy on migration issues; and assistance, relief, and where necessary, resettlement of refugees around the world. These programs are carried out through a network of international organizations and private voluntary agencies.

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