February 11, 1983
The President today announced his intention to nominate Richard S. Williamson to be United States Representative to international organizations in Vienna, Austria. This Ambassadorship was created by the recently passed Department of State Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1982 and 1983.
Since February 14, 1981, Mr. Williamson has been serving as Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs. From January 21 to February 12, 1981, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy to the Chief of Staff.
Mr. Williamson was born in Evanston, Ill., on May 9, 1949, and graduated from New Trier High School, Winnetka, Ill., in 1967. He is an honors graduate of Princeton University, where he received his A.B. degree in religion and philosophy in 1971. At Princeton he was president of his senior class, played varsity football, won the east coast plebe tournament wrestling championship, and received the McPhee Award and the Detwiller Prize. He received his J.D. degree in 1974 from the University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Va., where he was executive editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law. From 1974 to 1976, he was administrative assistant and legislative counsel to Congressman Philip M. Crane (R-Ill.). From 1977 to 1981, he was a practicing attorney with Winston & Strawn. In 1980 he was made a partner of that firm. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Delaware School of Law.
In 1976 Mr. Williamson served as Illinois director of the Reagan for President campaign. In 1979 - 1980 he was deputy to the chairman, Senator Paul Laxalt, of the national Reagan/Bush campaign.
He presently serves as Vice-Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a member of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Affairs, and is Associate Director of the President's Regulatory Relief Task Force, Chairman of the Administration's interdepartmental Puerto Rico Task Force, and Cochairman of the Administration's Territories Task Force.
Mr. Williamson was coeditor with Senator Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.) of ``A Changing America,'' published in 1979. He has authored numerous articles that have appeared in many periodicals, among them the Corporate Lawyer, the Urban Lawyer, Policy Review, Publius, Intergovernmental Perspective, National Civic Review, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Mr. Williamson is married to the former Jane Thatcher of Hinsdale, Ill. She has been director of guidance counseling at Immaculata Preparatory School, Washington, D.C., since 1974. She was appointed in October 1982 as a member of the Secretary of Education's National Advisory Committee on Accreditation and Institutional Eligibility. They have two children, Elisabeth Jean and Craig Salisbury.
Note: On April 15 Mr. Williamson was nominated to be U.S. Representative to the Vienna Office of the United Nations and U.S. Deputy Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, with the rank of Ambassador.