Nomination of James W. Spain To Be United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives

The President today announced his intention to nominate James W. Spain, of California, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister, as Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and to the Republic of Maidives. He would succeed John Hathaway Reed.

Mr. Spain began his career as a consultant to the Secretary of the Army in Tokyo, Japan, in 1949-1950. In 1951 he served as a vice consul in Karachi, Pakistan. He taught at Columbia University in 1953-1954 and in 1955 became an analyst, Office of National Estimates at the Central Intelligence Agency until 1963. He served as a member of the policy planning council in the Department in 1963. He then became director, Office of Research and Analysis for the Middle East and South Asia, in 1964-1966. He taught at American University between 1965-1967. In 1966 he was director, Pakistan and Afghanistan affairs, and in 1969 he became Charge d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. From there, in 1970 he went to Istanbul, Turkey, as consul general. In 1972-1974 Mr. Spain was deputy chief of mission in Ankara, Turkey. He went to Florida State University in Tallahassee as diplomat in residence in 1974-1975. In 1975 he became Ambassador to Tanzania. In 1979 he went to New York as Deputy U.S. Representative to the United Nations, returning in 1980 to become Ambassador to Turkey. Since 1982 he has been a foreign affairs fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Rand Corp., in Washington, DC.

Mr. Spain graduated from the University of Chicago (M.A., 1949) and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1959). He served in the United States Army in 1946-1947. His foreign languages are French and Turkish. Mr. Spain has three children and resides in Washington, DC. He was born July 22, 1926, in Chicago, IL.