THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
                       (Monterey, California)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                      June 12, 1998

             PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES JAMES HOWARD HOLMES AS
                U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA

The President today announced his intent to nominate James Howard Holmes as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia.

Mr. James Howard Holmes, of Springfield, Virginia, is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service. He is currently the Coordinator for Eastern European Assistance at the Department of State, a program of transitional economic and political assistance to fourteen Central European and Baltic states, including Latvia and the economic reconstruction in Bosnia. Mr. Holmes also served the Department of State as Director of the Office of Strategic Nuclear Policy in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (1984-88), Deputy Director of Policy Planning Staff for Europe (1988-92), and as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey (1992-95). Prior to serving in Turkey, Mr. Holmes and his wife, Connie, worked at the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan (l968-70) and the U.S. Embassies in Wellington, New Zealand (l976-79), and Oslo, Norway (l980-83). From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Holmes was assigned to the White House Staff and was the recipient of several Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State.

Mr. Holmes received his B.A. from Colgate University in 1965, and studied at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies from 1965 to 1967, and the National War College from 1983 to 1984. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes have two adult daughters, Rachel and Rebecca.

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