Press Releases 2004

The new U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe, arrived in Warsaw on July 22. He is expected to present his credentials to the President of the Republic of Poland soon.

Amb. Ashe has a long history of public service, having served over 31 years in elective office at the state and local levels in Tennessee. In December 2003, he completed 16 years as Mayor of Knoxville, making him the longest serving Mayor in the city’s 213-year history.

Prior to that, he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1968 at the age of 23, and served six years before being elected in 1975 to the Tennessee State Senate, where he served for 9 years. Also during this time, Amb. Ashe served in the U.S. Marine Corps Air Reserves from 1967 to 1973.

Most recently, Ashe completed a three-month Residency Fellowship in May 2004 at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.