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INDEPTH: U.S. POLITICS
David Wilkins: America's next ambassador to Canada
CBC News Online | June 22, 2005

Wilkins
David Wilkins, left, shown with U.S. President George W. Bush in the South Carolina legislature, April 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
David Wilkins is a politician and lawyer from Greenville, S.C., and he's U.S. President George W. Bush's pick to be the next American ambassador to Canada.

CBC correspondent Henry Champ describes Wilkins as a conservative, both fiscally and socially. Wilkins was a Republican fundraiser in the presidential campaigns of both George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush.

Since 1994, he has served as Speaker in the South Carolina legislature. He's also a lawyer in the firm of Wilkins & Madden.

Oct. 12, 1946:
David Horton Wilkins is born.

1968:
Graduates from Clemson University in South Carolina.

1971:
Receives a law degree from the University of South Carolina.

1971-1976:
Serves as a first lieutenant in the U.S. army and army reserve. It is during this time that Wilkins makes his first and only visit to Canada.

1981:
First elected to the South Carolina legislature.

1992:
Elected house Speaker pro tempore in the South Carolina legislature.

1994:
Republicans take over the South Carolina house and Wilkins is elected Speaker, a position he would hold until 2005.

2001:
Senator Strom Thurmond offers Wilkins a federal district judgeship. President Bush approaches Wilkins to be ambassador to Chile. In both cases, Wilkins says he wishes to finish the legislative session in South Carolina.

2004:
Serves as chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in South Carolina.

2005:
In a ceremony is Washington, D.C., Wilkins is sworn in as the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, following Bush's nomination.






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