Nomination of Thomas R. Pickering To Be United States Ambassador to Nigeria
September 17, 1981
The President today announced his intention to nominate Thomas R. Pickering, of New Jersey, to be Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He would succeed Stephen Low.
Mr. Pickering entered the Foreign Service in 1959 as intelligence research specialist in the Department of State, and was political officer (Test Ban Treaty) in Geneva on detail to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1961-64. He attended Swahili language training at the Foreign Service Institute in 1964-65. In 1965-67 he was principal officer in Zanzibar and Deputy Chief of Mission in Dar es Salaam in 1967-69. In the Department of State, he was Deputy Director of the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs (1969-73), and Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and Executive Secretary of the Department (1973-74). In 1974-78 he was Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the Department in 1978-81.
Mr. Pickering graduated from Bowdoin College (A.B., 1953); Fletcher School of Law (M.A., 1954); and the University of Melbourne (M.A., 1956). He served in the United States Navy in 1956-59. He is married, has two children, and resides in Rutherford, N.J. He was born November 5, 1931, in Orange, N.J.
Nomination of Rickey Dale James To Be a Member of the Mississippi River Commission
September 17, 1981
The President today announced his intention to nominate Rickey Dale James to be a member of the Mississippi River Commission for a term of 9 years. He would succeed Wilmer R. Hall.
Mr. James is a self-employed farmer and manager of cotton gins and grain elevators for the A.C. Riley Co. Since 1972 he has worked with various levee and drainage boards in Missouri and was employed with the Kentucky Department of Water Resources engineering office while attending the University of Kentucky in 1971.
He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in civil engineering in 1971. Mr. James is married, has two children, and resides in New Madrid, Mo. He was born January 29, 1948, in Fulton County, Ky.