Nomination of Peter Sebastian To Be United States Ambassador to Tunisia

The President today announced his intention to nominate Peter Sebastian, of Maryland, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, as Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia. He would succeed Walter Leon Cutler, who is serving as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Sebastian served in the United States Army in 1944-1946. He was translator at the Chase Manhattan Bank in 1950-1951, and was owner-director of Peter Sebastian, Consultant Linguist, in 1951-1957 in New York City. In 1957 he entered the Foreign Service and served as consular and political officer in Rabat. In 1960-1961 he was intelligence research specialist in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research in the Department. He was political officer in Bangui (1961-1963) and in Paris (1963-1967). He was international relations officer in the Department in 1967-1969 and attended the National War College in 1969-1970. In the Department he was political-military affairs officer in 1970-1972. He was counselor for political affairs in Addis Ababa in 1972-1976 and deputy executive secretary in the Department in 1976-1977. In 1977-1978 he attended the executive seminar in national and international affairs at the Foreign Service Institute. He was Consul General in Casablanca (1978-1980), and Deputy Chief of Mission in Rabat (1980-1982). Since 1982 he has been Director of the Office of North African Affairs in the Department.

Mr. Sebastian graduated from the University of Chicago (B.A., 1950). He also attended Roosevelt University (1947-1948), Universite d'Aix-Marseille (1948-1949), and the New School for Social Research (1951). His foreign languages are French, German, Italian, Spanish, and some knowledge of Russian and Arabic. He was born June 19, 1926, in Berlin, Germany, and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1944.