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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release June 18, 1998

              PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES RICHARD HOLBROOKE AS
                  U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS

The President today announced his intent to nominate Richard Holbrooke as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, of New York, is currently Vice Chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. He has previously served the Clinton Administration as Ambassador to Germany and Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs. Ambassador Holbrooke was also the chief negotiator for the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. More recently, Ambassador Holbrooke has been serving as the Special Presidential Emissary to Cyprus in helping with negotiations between Greece and Turkey. Ambassador Holbrooke also served in the Carter Administration as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, making him the only person ever to hold two regional Assistant Secretary of State posts.

Ambassador Holbrooke began his government career in 1962, joining the Foreign Service immediately after graduating from Brown University. He served in a variety of posts related to Vietnam, including serving as a member of the American Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam. He spent a year as a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University before serving as Peace Corps Director in Morocco from 1970-1972. Before joining the Carter Administration in 1977, Ambassador Holbrooke took leave from the Foreign Service to become Managing Editor of the quarterly magazine, Foreign Policy. He returned again to the private sector in 1981, when he formed a consulting firm, Public Strategies. In 1985, he joined Lehman Brothers as a Managing Director.

Ambassador Holbrooke serves on various boards and advisory councils and has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work around the globe. He is married to Kati Marton and has two sons, a stepson and a stepdaughter.

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