The President today announced his intention to nominate Richard W. Murphy to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs). He would succeed Nicholas A. Veliotes.
He has been serving as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia since 1981. Ambassador Murphy, a career Foreign Service officer, served as Ambassador to the Philippines (1978-1980), to the Syrian Arab Republic (1974-1978), and to Mauritania (1971-1974). In the Department of State he served as country director, Office of Arab Peninsula Affairs (1970-1971), and as personnel placement officer and Assistant Executive Director for Personnel in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1968-1970). His other assignments included Aleppo, Jidda, and Amman.
Ambassador Murphy graduated from Harvard University (B.A. 1951) and Cambridge University (B.A. 1953). He is married and has three children. He was born July 29, 1929, in Boston, Mass.
Ronald Reagan, Nomination of Richard W. Murphy To Be an Assistant Secretary of State Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/262939