November 1, 1985
The President today announced his intention to nominate Paul Matthews Cleveland, of Florida, a
career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, as Ambassador to
New Zealand. He would succeed H. Monroe Browne.
Mr. Cleveland served with the Department of Navy as a management analyst in the Office of
Management in 1956 - 1957. He entered on duty as a Foreign Service officer with the Department
of State in 1957 and became a staff aide to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations in 1958.
In 1959 Mr. Cleveland went to Canberra, Australia, as economic, then political officer, where he
served until 1962. He then became Ambassador's aide in Bonn, Germany, in 1963 - 1964. In 1964
- 1965 he took academic training and received his M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy. From there he went to Jakarta, Indonesia, as economic officer, where he served until
1968, when he returned to the Department as an economic officer in the Office of Fuels and
Energy. In 1970 he became special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs,
departing in 1973 to become political/military officer, then political counselor at the U.S. Embassy
in Seoul, Korea. In 1977 he was named Deputy Director and Director of Regional Affairs in the
Bureau of East Asian Affairs in the Department. In 1980 - 1981 Mr. Cleveland was Director of
Thai Affairs, and in 1981 - 1982 he was Director of Korean Affairs. Since 1982 he has been
deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Korea.
Mr. Cleveland graduated from Yale University (B.A., 1953) and the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy (M.A., 1965). He was a pilot in the United States Air Force in 1953 - 1956. His
foreign language is German. He is married to the former Carter Sellwood, and they have four
children. He was born August 25, 1931, in Boston, MA.