The President of the World Bank. A.W. Clausen, circulated a letter to World Bank officials declaring that a search committee had decided that he would soon be replaced by Jeane J. Kirkpatrick. The text of the letter read: "The appointment represents the culmination of a lengthy worldwide selection process, involving a search for candidates who were neither encumbered by any previous ideas on international development in general nor likely to be embarrassed by any prior commitment to the concept of multilateral assistance in particular. Ms. Kirkpatrick, a U.S. nationalist, has had a distinguished career in all the main political parties in this country, but at the moment is a Republican. Although she taught at Georgetown University long before basketball was ever invented, as U.S. Ambassador at the United Nations she gained a well-deserved reputation for putting the Third World countries through the hoop. The Search Committee feels that this experience abundantly qualifies her for the exacting duties of a position that I myself am looking forward to vacating, now that the World Bank and the I.M.F. have made the world safe again for private banking." The letter was an April Fool's Day joke.