United States Ambassador to Israel - Nomination of Samuel W. Lewis

The President today announced that he will nominate Samuel W. Lewis, of Houston, Tex., to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Israel. Lewis was previously Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.

He was born October 1, 1930, in Houston, Tex. He received an A.B. degree from Yale University in 1952 and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 1954.

Lewis joined the Foreign Service in 1954 and served as consular officer at Naples. From 1955 to 1959, he was a political officer and acting principal officer in Florence. From 1959 to 1961, he was officer in charge of Italian Affairs in the State Department.

From 1961 to 1962, Lewis served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State. During 1963-64, he was a visiting fellow at Princeton University. He served as Deputy Assistant Director for Technical Cooperation for AID in Rio de Janeiro, on detail, and in 1966 he was executive assistant to the Ambassador in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1967 and 1968, Lewis was Assistant Director for Development in the Office of Brazilian Affairs at AID, and in 1968 he became Deputy Director of that Office In 1968 and 1969, he was a senior staff member on the National Security Council at the White House (on detail).

In 1969 Lewis was Special Assistant for Policy Planning in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs at the State Department, and in 1970 and 1971 he was special assistant to the Director General of the Foreign Service.

From 1971 to 1974, Lewis was Deputy Chief of Mission, Kabul. He was Deputy Director of the Policy Planning staff from 1974 until 1975, when he became Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.

He received the Meritorious Honor Award in 1966 from the State Department and the Meritorious Honor Award the same year from AID. He received the William A. Jump Award in 1967 and the Presidential Management Improvement Certificate in 1970.