Clinton Taps Foley For Japan Post Former House Speaker In Line To Replace Mondale As Ambassador

Former U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley has been picked by President Clinton as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, wire services in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., reported Thursday night, but Clinton has not yet called Foley to offer him the job.

“I talked to him an hour ago and he didn’t know anything about it,” Heather Foley, wife of the former speaker, said Thursday night from the couple’s Washington, D.C., home.

“I would assume he’d call home and tell me,” she added.

Although his name’s been in circulation for months, the White House hasn’t approached Foley about any decisions on the ambassador’s post, said Janet Gilpatrick, his administrative aide in Spokane.

“There’s been no official contact that I’m aware of,” Gilpatrick said.

Foley could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

He is a longtime student of Japanese culture, politics and architecture. He has dealt extensively with such trade issues as Japan’s 23-year effort to delay import of U.S. apples into the country.

Foley, 68, also would be in line with a tradition of appointing respected elder statesmen to the embassy in Tokyo. The post was held until December by former Vice President Walter Mondale. Ex-Senate Majority leader Mike Mansfield served as ambassador under Presidents Carter, Reagan and Bush.

Part of the reason is that the Japanese respect such figures in their own culture. Sending appointees of stature and dignity to the post is thus a sign of respect for Japanese values as well as an indication of the importance Washington places on ties with Japan.

Rumors of a Foley ambassadorship, either to Japan or Great Britain, have swirled around Washington, D.C., since last winter. Foley is also a student of British parliamentary government, and at a Washington, D.C., dinner party showed the rare ability to make Queen Elizabeth II laugh.

The Associated Press reported out of the nation’s capital yesterday that Foley is Clinton’s pick, as did the Kyodo news agency from Tokyo. Both cited unnamed U.S. administration officials, and both suggested the announcement could come next week.

Formal announcement of such appointments is usually delayed until a background check is completed, and the country to which an ambassador will be posted in notified.

Foley served 30 years in Congress, but was narrowly defeated for reelection in 1994 by Republican George Nethercutt.

He has since become a senior partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Aiken Gump, where his colleagues include Robert Strauss, a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union.

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The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Joel Connelly and Christopher Hanson Seattle Post-Intelligencer Staff writer Karen Dorn Steele contributed to this report.