Nomination of William Bodde, Jr., To Be United States Ambassador to the Marshall Islands

The President today announced his intention to nominate William Bodde, Jr., of Maryland, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Since 1989 Mr. Bodde has served as the dean for senior seminar at the Foreign Service Institute at the Department of State in Washington, DC. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Canadian Affairs at the Department of State, 1986 - 1989; consul general in Frankfurt, Germany, 1983 - 1986; diplomat in residence for the East-West Center in Hawaii, 1982 - 1983; Ambassador to Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Minister to Kiribati, 1980 - 1982; director of the Office of Pacific Islands Affairs at the Department of State, 1978 - 1980; political officer at the Department of State, 1977 - 1978; political officer in Bonn, Germany, 1974 - 1977; and political officer in Berlin, Germany, 1973 - 1974. In addition, Mr. Bodde has served as a political officer at the Department of State, 1970 - 1972; political officer in Stockholm, Sweden, 1967 - 1970; public information officer at the Department of State, 1965 - 1966; and political officer in Vienna, Austria, 1962 - 1965. Mr. Bodde joined the Foreign Service in 1962.

Mr. Bodde graduated from Hofstra College (B.A., 1951) and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (M.P.P.A., 1967). He was born November 27, 1931, in Brooklyn, NY. Mr. Bodde served in the U.S. Army, 1950 - 1954. He is married, has three children, and resides in Maryland.