United States Ambassador at Large Nomination of Alfred L. Atherton, Jr.

The President today announced that he will nominate Alfred L. Atherton, Jr., of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to be Ambassador at Large.

Atherton was born November 22, 1921, in Pittsburgh, Pa. He received a B.S. in 1944 and an M.A. in 1947 from Harvard University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945.

Atherton joined the Foreign Service in 1947 and served in Stuttgart, Bonn, Damascus, and Aleppo. From 1959 to 1961, he was at the State Department, serving as Iraq-Jordan desk officer, then officer in charge for Cyprus in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. In 1961 and 1962, he took advanced economic studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

Atherton was economic officer in Calcutta from 1962 to 1965, and Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in 1965 and 1966. In 1966 and 1967, he was country director for Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and from 1967 to 1970, he was country director for Israel and Arab-Israel Affairs.

From 1970 to 1974, Atherton was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. Since 1974 he has been Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.