United States Ambassador to Turkey - Nomination of Ronald I. Spiers

The President today announced that he will nominate Ronald I. Spiers, of South Londonderry, Vt., to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Turkey. Spiers is currently Deputy Chief of Mission in London.

Spiers was born on July 9, 1925, in Orange, N.J. He received a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1948 and an M.A. from Princeton University in 1950. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946.

Spiers began his Government career in 1950 as Foreign Affairs officer with the Atomic Energy Commission. He joined the Department of State in 1955 in the Office of United Nations Political Affairs as Foreign Affairs officer. He was officer in charge of disarmament affairs from 1957 to 1960 and served as Director of the Office of Political Affairs in the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency from 1960 to 1962.

In 1962 he became Deputy Director and later Director of the Office of Atlantic Political-Military Affairs. From 1966 to 1969, he was Counselor for Political-Military Affairs in London.

From 1969 to 1973, Spiers was Director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the Department. He served as the first U.S. Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas from 1973 until 1974, when he became Deputy Chief of Mission in London.