THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES JAMES A. LAROCCO
AS U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE STATE OF KUWAIT
President Clinton today announced his intent to nominate James A. Larocco, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, to be United States Ambassador to the State of Kuwait.
Mr. Larocco joined the Foreign Service in 1973 and was assigned to the Office of Congressional Relations in the State Department as Staff Assistant. In 1975, following Arabic language training, he was posted to the American Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as Commercial Attache. From 1978-1981 he served as economic officer at the Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. In 1981, he transferred to Kuwait, where he headed the economic section at the Embassy.
During 1983-1984, Mr. Larocco was appointed a Congressional Fellow and worked in the office of Senator Max Baucus of Montana. In 1984, he returned to the State Department, where he was Deputy Director of the Office of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh Affairs.
Following Chinese language training in 1986, Mr. Larocco transferred to Beijing, where he assumed the position of Economic Minister-Counselor. He returned to Washington in 1990 and joined the Senior Seminar. During this period, he was called upon to work as a coordinator for the Kuwait Task Force in the Operations Center at the State Department throughout Operation Desert Storm. In 1991, he left the Foreign Service to work as Deputy Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the organization that handles the unofficial relations between the United States and Taiwan. From 1993-1996 he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Larocco was born in Evanston, Illinois. He grew up in Chicago, attending Notre Dame High School in Niles. He earned his Bachelor's degree from the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon and his Master's degree from Johns Hopkins University.