    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [May 18, 1999]
    [Page 802]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Withdrawal of the Nomination of J. Brian Atwood To Be Ambassador to Brazil
    May 18, 1999

        Today Brian Atwood asked me to withdraw his nomination to be the
    United States Ambassador to Brazil. I have accepted his request with
    reluctance and regret.
        Few people in public life have better combined the qualities of
    professional competence and moral purpose. Brian Atwood has served with
    distinction as Administrator of the Agency for International
    Development, making it more effective while tenaciously defending its
    mission and its independence. He has helped put the fight against
    poverty, civil strife, and disease in the developing world at the heart
    of our foreign policy, where it belongs, and where I am confident it
    will stay. When I asked him last month to lead America's effort to bring
    aid to the refugees escaping Kosovo, I knew we would be getting the very
    best. That is what America gets every time Brian Atwood goes to work.
        In his statement today, he said that Washington owes us nothing but
    the ``opportunity to serve.'' I believe we owe Brian Atwood something
    more: our gratitude for continually making a difference in the lives of
    millions of people around the world.
        I thank him for his many contributions and for his willingness to
    stay on as our AID Administrator, where he is doing an outstanding job
    as our Kosovo humanitarian coordinator. And I am confident he will have
    many opportunities to serve our Nation again.