Nomination of Paul Matthews Cleveland To Be United States Ambassador to Western Samoa

The President today announced his intention to nominate Paul Matthews Cleveland, of Florida, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, as Ambassador to Western Samoa. He succeeds H. Monroe Browne. Ambassador Cleveland was appointed Ambassador to New Zealand last December and will serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to Western Samoa.

Ambassador Cleveland served with the Department of the Navy as a management analyst in the Office of Management in 1956-1957. He became a Foreign Service officer with the Department of State in 1957 and was a staff aide to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations in 1958. In 1959 Ambassador Cleveland went to Canberra, Australia, as economic, then political officer, where he served until 1962. He then became the Ambassador's aide in Bonn, Germany, in 1963-1964. In 1964-1965 he took academic training and received his M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. From there he went to Jakarta, Indonesia, as economic officer where he served until 1968, when he returned to the Department as an economic officer in the Office of Fuels and Energy. In 1970 he became special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs, departing in 1973 to become political/military officer, then political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Korea. In 1977 he was named Deputy Director and Director of Regional Affairs in the Bureau of East Asian Affairs in the Department. In 1980-1981 Ambassador Cleveland was Director of Thai Affairs and in 1981-1982 was Director of Korean Affairs. He was deputy chief of mission in Seoul, Korea, in 1982-1985. He was appointed U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand on December 6, 1985.

Ambassador Cleveland graduated from Yale University (B.A., 1953) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A., 1965). He was a pilot in the United States Air Force in 1953-1956. His foreign language is German. He is married to the former Carter Sellwood and has four children. He was born August 25, 1931, in Boston, MA.