Nomination of W. Tapley Bennett, Jr., To Be an Assistant Secretary of State

The President today announced his intention to nominate W. Tapley Bennett, Jr., to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs). He will succeed Powell Allen Moore.

Since 1977 Mr. Bennett has been serving as the United States Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with the rank of Ambassador. From 1973 to 1977, he was Deputy Representative to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador. Previously, from 1971 to 1973, he served as Deputy Representative of the United States in the Security Council of the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador.

Prior to his entry into the Foreign Service in 1941, Mr. Bennett was an instructor at the University of Georgia and a trainee at the National Institute of Public Affairs in Washington. He served in the Department of Latin American Affairs, becoming officer in charge of Central America and Panama Affairs in 1950. He became Deputy Director of the Office of South American Affairs in 1951. In 1954 Mr. Bennett attended the National War College.

He served as foreign affairs officer in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary in 1955 and as Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary in 1956. He was assigned to Vienna as a political counselor in 1957 and to Athens as counselor of the Embassy in 1961.

Mr. Bennett served as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 1964 to 1966 and as Ambassador to Portugal from 1966 to 1969. From 1969 to 1971, he was a faculty adviser at Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base.

He was born April 1, 1917, in Griffin, Ga. He received an A.B. degree from the University of Georgia in 1937 and an LL.B. from George Washington University in 1948. He took graduate studies at the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 1937 and 1938.

Mr. Bennett speaks German, Spanish, and French. He served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946.