President Bush has tapped a former Charlottean - and Elizabeth Dole's nephew - as ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom.
If confirmed by the Senate, John Hanford III would become the country's second ambassador for issues involving religious persecution around the world.
"I'm very honored," Hanford said Thursday. "It will be a great privilege."
Hanford, 47, is a Salisbury native who lived in Charlotte and attended UNC Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar. He also graduated from a Massachusetts seminary.
For the past 14 years, he has worked as a congressional fellow specializing in religious liberty issues on the staff of Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.
There he helped write the International Religious Freedom Act, which created the ambassadorship and which President Clinton signed in 1998.
The State Department office tracks cases of religious persecution worldwide, no matter the religions or nationalities of those involved.
Recently it has been involved in the case of two American women who, along with six other members of a religious aid group, are imprisoned in Afghanistan on charges of spreading Christianity.
Hanford, who will be based in Washington, has been involved in persecution issues for years.
"He's been the preeminent leader in this field," said Andy Fisher, a spokesman for Lugar. "His efforts in terms of freeing people and ending persecution all over the world have been extraordinary."
Hanford's father, John, who lives in Charlotte, is Dole's brother. This has been a big week for their family.
Dole, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, found a celebrity's welcome in her first swing through Eastern North Carolina. Her nephew was nominated as ambassador.
And this week, he and his wife, Laura, are expecting their first child.