Nomination of Selwa Roosevelt To Have the Rank of Ambassador While Serving as Chief of Protocol for the White House

The President announced today that Selwa Roosevelt will serve as Chief of Protocol for the White House and will be nominated to have the rank of Ambassador while so serving. She will succeed Leonore Annenberg, who has resigned.

A Washington hostess and journalist, Mrs. Roosevelt is married to Archibald Roosevelt, Jr., a grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.

She is a graduate of Vassar College, class of 1950, and took her degree with honors in international relations. In Washington in the 1950's she wrote a column for the Washington Star called "Diplomatically Speaking," in which she covered the State Department, the diplomatic corps, and official and state visits of dignitaries from all over the world.

She interrupted her own career to accompany her husband on various diplomatic missions overseas. She has resided in Istanbul, Turkey (1951-1953); in Madrid, Spain (1958-1961); and in London, England (1962-1967). In 1961 Mrs. Roosevelt was a special assistant to the head of the National Cultural Center, which later became the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Since 1967 Mrs. Roosevelt has lived in Washington continuously and worked as a freelance writer for the Washington Post. In addition, her articles have appeared in many magazines, among them the Family Circle, McCall's, and Town & Country. She became a contributing editor of Town & Country 3 years ago. From time to time, Mrs. Roosevelt has written about the art and significance of entertaining, especially in Washington. Her journalistic assignments have taken her to many countries in Europe, South America, North Africa, and the Middle East. She speaks fluent Spanish and has studied French.

Mrs. Roosevelt has served on the citizens' advisory board of Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center for the past 6 years and has written a number of medical articles, particularly about cancer and cancer research. Recently she was invited to join the board of the American-Italian Foundation for Cancer Research.

Her special Washington interests are the Folger Shakespeare Library, where she serves on the council, and the Children's Hearing and Speech Center (of Children's Hospital), where she was a board member for many years.

Born January 13, 1929, in Kingsport, Tenn., Mrs. Roosevelt lived there until her marriage in 1950. She and her husband reside in Washington, where he is a director of international relations for the Chase Manhattan Bank.