NATION : Perkins Backed as Top Diplomat

WASHINGTON —  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today endorsed the nomination of Edward J. Perkins, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, to be director general of the U.S. Foreign Service.

If approved by the Senate as is expected, Perkins will become the highest-ranking black diplomat in the history of the State Department.

Perkins, 61, a native of Sterlington, La., was named the chief U.S. envoy to the South African government in 1986, the first black ever to be named to that post. He had previously served as U.S. ambassador to Liberia and has been director of the State Department’s Office of West African Affairs.

He was graduated from the University of Maryland in 1967 and received advanced degrees, including a doctorate of public administration, from USC in 1972 and 1978.