National Endowment for the Arts Nomination of Livingston L. Biddle, IT., To Be Chairman.

The President today announced that he will nominate Livingston L. Biddle, Jr., of Washington, D.C., to be Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts for a 4-year term. He would replace Nancy Hanks, term expired.

Biddle was born May 26, 1918, in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1940. From 1942 to 1945, he served as a volunteer ambulance driver overseas with American Field Service.

From 1946 to 1962, Biddle was self-employed as an author. He wrote four novels--"Main Line," "Debut," "The Village Beyond," and "Sam Bentley's Island' '--and numerous shorter works of fiction and nonfiction.

From 1963 to 1965, Biddle served as special assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell and drafted the legislation which led to the establishment of the National Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1966 and 1967, he served as Deputy to the first Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Roger L. Stevens.

From 1968 to 1970. Biddle was a professor and chairman of the division of arts at Fordham University, where he established and directed a new educational program including all major art forms. In 1971 and 1972, he was chairman of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Ballet Company.

In 1972 Biddle worked on Senator Pell's reelection campaign, and in 1973 and 1974 he again worked in the Senator's office on reauthorizing legislation for the Arts and Humanities Act and on the Museum Services Act. In 1975 he was Congressional Liaison Director for the National Endowment for the Arts. Since 1976 he has been director of the Senate Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities.