The President today announced his intention to nominate Vernon A. Walters, of Palm Beach, Fla., as Ambassador at Large. General Walters was in the United States Army from 1941 to 1976, when he retired as lieutenant general. His special assignments included serving directly under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Nixon; as aide to Averell Harriman at the Marshall plan in Paris; Assistant to General Eisenhower to set up SHAPE Headquarters in Paris; staff assistant to President Eisenhower on all his foreign trips; accompanied Vice President Nixon on his trip to South America in 1957; military attache in Italy, Brazil, and France. He conducted negotiations with the North Vietnamese and Chinese in Paris from 1969 to 1972. From 1972 to 1976, he was Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
From 1976 to 1981, he has been consultant, lecturer, and author. Since 1981 he has been senior adviser to Secretary of State Haig.
General Walters was born January 3, 1917, in New York, N.Y. He attended the St. Louis de Gonzague in Paris, and Stoneyhurst College (United Kingdom). His languages are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, and Russian.
Ronald Reagan, Nomination of Vernon A. Walters To Be United States Ambassador at Large Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/246648