March 7, 1986

The President today announced the appointment of Philip C. Habib as his Special Envoy for Central America. He will succeed Harry Shlaudeman.

A former Foreign Service officer, Ambassador Habib served as the Personal Representative of the President to the Philippines in February 1986. He was the Personal Representative of the President to the Middle East in 1981 - 1983. He was senior adviser to the Secretary of State in 1979 - 1980 and diplomat in residence at Stanford University in 1978 - 1979. He served at the Department of State as Under Secretary for Political Affairs (1976 - 1978) and as Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in 1974 - 1976. He was the Ambassador to the Republic of Korea in 1971 - 1974. Ambassador Habib was a member of the United States delegation to the Vietnam peace talks with the personal rank of Ambassador in 1968 - 1971. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in 1967 - 1969. He was Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the American Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1965 - 1967 and was the counselor for political affairs at the American Embassy in Seoul, Korea, in 1962 - 1965. Ambassador Habib serves as a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution and as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a trustee of the Asia Foundation and of International Human Assistance Programs. He has received many awards and decorations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1982).

Ambassador Habib graduated from the University of Idaho (B.S., 1942) and the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D., 1952). He is married and has two children. He was born February 25, 1920, in Brooklyn, NY.

 

Date
03/07/1986