June 29, 1984
The President today announced his intention to nominate Alan Wood Lukens, of Pennsylvania, a
career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, as Ambassador to the
People's Republic of the Congo. He would succeed Kenneth Lee Brown.
Mr. Lukens served in the United States Army in 1942 - 1946. He was a teacher at Southern
Arizona School in Tucson, AZ (1949 - 1950), and at St. Alban's School in Washington, DC (1950
- 1951). In 1951 he entered the Foreign Service as assistant cultural affairs officer in Ankara. He
was cultural affairs officer in Istanbul (1952 - 1953) and public affairs officer in Martinique (1954
- 1956). In the Department he was press officer of the news division in 1956 - 1958. He was on
detail in 1957 to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, NY, as press officer. He
was committee secretary of international staff at NATO/Paris (1958 - 1960), American Consul,
then Charge d'Affaires in Brazzaville (1960 - 1961), Charge d'Affaires in Bangui (1961), special
assistant to the Ambassador and political officer in Paris (1961 - 1963), and political-military
officer in Rabat (1963 - 1965). In the Department he was personnel officer in the Bureau of
African Affairs in 1965 - 1967. He was deputy chief of mission in Dakar (1967 - 1970) and in
Nairobi (1970 - 1972). In the Department he was Chief of the Junior Officer Division in the
Bureau of Personnel (1972 - 1974), and Director of the Office of Iberian Affairs in the Bureau of
European and Canadian Affairs (1974 - 1975). In 1975 - 1978, he was deputy chief of mission in
Copenhagen and consul general in Cape Town in 1978 - 1982. Since 1982 he has been Director
of the Office of Analysis for Western Europe in the Department.
Mr. Lukens graduated from Princeton University (A.B., 1948). He attended Georgetown
University (1950 - 1951), Ecole des Science Politiques in Paris (1948), the University of Madrid
(1948 - 1949), and the University of Paris (1959). His foreign languages are French, Spanish, and
Danish. He was born February 12, 1924, in Philadelphia, PA.