Veteran U.S. ambassador Edward Perkins named new envoy to Australia

Jet, Oct 18, 1993

President Bill Clinton granted a special dispensation for former United Nations ambassador Edward J. Perkins to be eligible to serve as the first Black ambassador to Australia.

Offered the impressive foreign assignment, Perkins needed the presidential consent because he had reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 years.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher thought so much of the Black man who dared to become the U.S. ambassador to South Africa at a time of great tensions in the '80s that he went to the White House to secure the support.

The nomination will be considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

State Department watchers consider Perkins' overseas post the most unusual and strategic of a Black diplomat in the Clinton administration. For years, Australia refused to accept a Black in the position. A few Blacks have served in lower ranked posts in the country which has a racial problem of opening opportunities to almost a quarter of a million aboriginal people.

With Asia becoming a major area of trade, Australia leaders hope to win U.S. support for a bigger slice of commerce.

A skilled negotiator, Perkins has the assurance of President Clinton's support. With the retirement from the foreign service of former Ambassador to Argentina Terrence Todman, Perkins is the dean of the 250-member Black contingent in the 5,800-person corps.