Nomination of James Keough Bishop To Be United States Ambassador to Liberia

The President today announced his intention to nominate James Keough Bishop, of New York, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Liberia. He would succeed Edward Joseph Perkins.

Mr. Bishop joined the Foreign Service in 1960 and was first assigned as a press officer in the State Department, 1961-1963. He then went to Auckland, New Zealand, as vice consul, 1963-1966. Following this he was consul and economic officer in Beirut until 1968, when he was assigned as economic officer in Yaounde, Cameroon. In 1970 Mr. Bishop returned to the State Department to serve first as desk officer for Chad, Gabon, Mauritius, and Madagascar, 1970-1972; then Ghana and Togo, 1972-1974. From 1974 to 1976, he served as Deputy Director for West Africa. He attended the Senior Seminar at the Foreign Service Institute from 1976 to 1977 and thereafter was assigned as Director of North African Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, 1977-1979. In 1979 Mr. Bishop was appointed Ambassador to the Republic of Niger and served there until 1981, when he was named Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, where he has served since.

He graduated from the College of Holy Cross (B.A., 1960) and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (M.I.I.P., 1981). Mr. Bishop is married, has six children, and resides in Washington, DC. He was born July 21, 1938, in New Rochelle, NY.