Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 8, 1993                   TAG: 9308080073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON ASKS ACTRESS TO LEAD ARTS AGENCY

The nomination of Alexander, 53, as the NEA's chairman was widely expected. Many prominent Alexander figures in the New York and Washington arts scenes have been lobbying the White House on her behalf for months.

In picking her, the White House opted for an artist over an arts administrator. Alexander's principal rival for the job was believed to be Deborah Sale, a longtime friend and campaign aide of Clinton's who was executive director of the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities in the Carter administration.

Alexander "will be a tireless and articulate spokesperson for the value of bringing art into the lives of all Americans," Clinton said in a statement.

For the last several years, the NEA, a relatively small agency, has been caught in the crossfire between artists who feel the need to test the public's tolerance for the shocking and new, and religious and political conservatives who decry a seeming breakdown in social values and morals.

Some representatives from both camps spoke respectfully of Alexander, noting her stature and fame as an actress. She has won a wide following with her portrayals of Eleanor Roosevelt, Georgia O'Keefe and survivors of Nazi concentration camps and nuclear disaster.

Clinton had been criticized for taking so long to announce the nomination. He may have been waiting for the Senate to act on the confirmation of Sheldon Hackney, the controversial former president of the University of Pennsylvania, as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Hackney's appointment was easily confirmed last Tuesday.