<p>At the same time the President was deciding to nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor '76 to fill a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, he was also apparently making the decision to nominate another Princeton graduate to fill a prominent position. Jim Leach '64 is a former congressman and current faculty member of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton who apparently will become the new head of the National Endowment for the Humanities. His appointment is expected to be announced this week. A number of Wilson School professors have joined the administration including the former Dean Ann Marie Slaughter '80 who is the new Director of Policy Planning at the State Department.</p>
<p>News:</a> Leach Reported Choice to Lead NEH - Inside Higher Ed</p>
<p>"James A. Leach's name emerges just about any time that Democratic politicians are contemplating nominating Republicans for important jobs; in recent weeks, the former Iowa Congressman has been discussed as a candidate for U.S. ambassador to China (a position that went to another Republican) and as an appointee to a federal panel investigating the country's financial meltdown.</p>
<p>"Leach, a moderate Republican who endorsed President Obama and earned a speaking slot at last summer's Democratic convention as a result, is indeed poised to join the new president's administration: as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, according to several sources familiar with the choice.</p>