Nomination of John Gunther Dean To Be United States Ambassador to Thailand

The President today announced his intention to nominate John Gunther Dean, of New York, to be Ambassador to Thailand. He will succeed Morton I. Abramowitz, who has resigned.

In 1950 Mr. Dean entered government service as economic analyst with the Economic Cooperation Administration in Paris. In 1951-53 he was industrial analyst in Belgium and assistant economic commissioner in Saigon, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane in 1953. He was with the Foreign Operations Administration in Saigon in 1953-54 and in 1955 with the International Cooperation Administration.

He was political officer in Vientiane (Department of State) in 1956-59, consular officer in Lome (1959-60), and Charge d'Affaires in Bamako (1960-61). In the Department, he was officer in charge of Mali-Togo affairs (1961-64) and international relations officer (1964-65). In 1965-69 he was political officer in Paris. He attended the Harvard Center for International Affairs in 1969-70. He was on detail to the Agency for International Development as Deputy Regional Director in Saigon in 1970-72. In 1972-74 he was Deputy Chief of Mission in Vientiane. He was Ambassador to the Khmer Republic (1974-75), to Denmark (1975-78), and to Lebanon (1978-81).

Mr. Dean graduated from Harvard University (B.S., 1947; M.A., 1950) and the University of Paris (Ph.D., 1949). He served in the U.S. Army in 1944-46. Mr. Dean is married, has three children, and resides in New York, N.Y. He was born February 24, 1926, in Germany.