The President today announced that he will nominate James Bert Thomas, Jr., of McLean, Va., to be Inspector General of the Department of Education, a new position. Thomas has been Director of the Bureau of Accounts at the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) since 1977.
He was born March 16, 1935, in Tallahassee, Fla. He received a B.S. in business administration from Florida State University in 1957.
From 1957 to 1958, Thomas was an auditor analyst with the Florida State Department of Education. He was a special auditor with the Florida State Comptroller's USE Tax Division from 1958 to 1959. In 1959 he was a junior auditor with an accounting firm, and from 1959 to 1960, he was senior State auditor for the State of Florida.
Thomas was Assistant Director of Audit Operations with the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1960 to 1971. He joined the ICC in 1971 as an accounting officer and then served as Assistant Director of the ICC's Bureau of Accounts from 1972 to 1975. From 1975 to 1977, he was Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Jimmy Carter, Department of Education Nomination of James Bert Thomas, It., To Be Inspector General. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/250674