Nomination of Robert Bigger Oakley To Be United States Ambassador to Somali

The President today announced his intention to nominate Robert Bigger Oakley to be Ambassador to the Somali Democratic Republic. He would succeed Donald K. Petterson.

Mr. Oakley served in the United States Navy as a lieutenant in 1952-1955. He entered the Foreign Service in 1957 and was general services officer in Khartoum in 1958-1960. In 1960-1962 he was foreign affairs officer in the Department. He was a member of the United States Delegation to the Seventeenth Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City in 1962-1963 and also to the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Sessions in 1969-1970. He was economic and political officer in Abidjan (1963-1965), political officer in Saigon (1965-1967), and in Paris (1967-1969). In 1969-1970 he was Advisor for Political and Security Affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York. In 1971-1974 he was political officer in Beirut and in 1974 was international relations officer in the Department. He served on the National Security Council at the White House in 1974-1977 and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Department in 1977-1979. In 1979-1982 he was Ambassador to the Republic of Zaire.

He graduated from Princeton University (B.A., 1948) and attended graduate school at Tulane University in 1956-1957. His foreign language is French. He is married and has two children. He was born March 12, 1931.