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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release June 18,1998

                          PRESIDENT CLINTON 
              NAMES ROBERT C. FELDER AS U.S. AMBASSADOR 
                      TO THE REPUBLIC OF BENIN

The President today announced his intent to nominate Robert C. Felder to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Benin.

Mr. Robert C. Felder, of Boca Raton, Florida, is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1966, serving initially as Vice Consul in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and then as Desk Officer for Cuba. After a tour as Special Assistant to the Ambassador in Buenos Aires, he served as the Argentine desk officer. Mr. Felder served as Political Officer in Kenya from l976 to l978, and then as Charge d'Affaires in the Seychelles. He returned to Latin America as Political Officer in Brasilia in l98l. In l983 he held the same position in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mr. Felder attended the Department of State's Senior Seminar from l989 to l990. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Caracas, Venezuela, from l990 to l993. Mr. Felder served as Director of the Office of Mexican Affairs in the Department of State from l993 and l995. He has been serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti since July l995.

Mr. Felder received a B.A. degree from Williams College in Massachusetts. He subsequently attended the School of International Affairs at Columbia University. He speaks Spanish, French and Portuguese.

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