THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                           (Kampala, Uganda)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                     March 24, 1998

              PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES WILLIAM JOSEPH BURNS AS
            U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN

The President today announced his intent to nominate William Joseph Burns as U.S. Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Mr. William Joseph Burns, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor. Since entering the Foreign Service in 1982, Mr. Burns has served in a number of posts in Washington and overseas, including Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, staff positions in the Bureau of Near East Affairs and the Office of the Deputy Secretary of State, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council Staff, Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and Executive Secretary of the State Department and Special Assistant to the Secretary of State.

Mr. Burns earned a B.A. in History from LaSalle University and M. Phil and D.Phil. degrees in International Relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by LaSalle University in 1997. Mr. Burns is the author of Economic Aid and American Policy Toward Egypt, 1955-1981 (State University of New York Press, 1985). He speaks Arabic, Russian, and French, and is the recipient of a number of Department of State awards, including the Distinguished Honor Award, the James Clement Dunn Award, and five Superior Honor awards.

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