doc_text: The Bush administration is expected to name career diplomat Harry Shlaudeman as the first U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua in almost two years, a U.S. official says.
  The administration had planned to send another career diplomat, Melissa Wells, to Managua but had a change of heart after concluding she might face a prolonged Senate confirmation fight because she has been a target of conservatives.
  The administration is eager to have an ambassador in Managua quickly because of the delicate political situation there now that U.S.-backed President Violeta Chamorro has taken over after almost 11 years of rule by the leftist Sandinista party.
  Mrs. Chamorro faces the demanding challenges of reviving Nicaragua's bankrupt economy and achieving national reconciliation after long years of warfare.
  The United States has had no ambassador to Nicaragua since July 1988.
  At the time, the Sandinista government expelled Ambassador Richard Melton and seven others at the embassy on grounds they were interfering in the country's internal affairs.
  The Reagan administration retaliated by expelling eight Nicaraguan envoys in Washington, including Ambassador Carlos Tunnermann.
  Shlaudeman, who has served as ambassador to Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela, is a premier State Department specialist on Latin America and is expected to win easy Senate confirmation.
  He retired from the foreign service a year ago but was called back to duty last fall to serve as a State Department liaison with the Nicaraguan Contra rebels.
  Shlaudeman, who will turn 64 next week, was approached by a senior State Department official weeks ago about going to Managua but said he was not interested.
  He told intimates he would agree to go only if asked personally by President Bush.
  When Bush telephoned him earlier this week, Shlaudeman agreed to the appointment, the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday.
  In addition to his ambassadorial posts, Shlaudeman was the top Latin America aide to President Ford in the mid-1970s and a diplomatic trouble-shooter in Central America under President Reagan.
  The U.S. official said Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and several of his conservative allies would not assure the administration that they would not delay Wells' nomination.
  When Wells was nominated to be ambassador to Mozambique in late 1986, Helms and his colleagues blocked her appointment for 11 months.
  They took the action as a means of expressing opposition to the Reagan administration's friendship toward Mozambique's Marxist government.
summary_text: The Bush administration, eager to have an ambassador in Nicaragua now that Violeta Chamorro has taken over after 11 years of Sandinista rule, is expected to name career diplomat Harry Shlaudeman to the post.
  It had planned to send Melissa Wells but feared a prolonged confirmation fight because she was a previous target of conservatives.
  Shlaudeman, 64, previously ambassador to Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela, is expected to win easy Senate confirmation.
  He agreed to the job only after being personally asked by Bush.
  The Sandinistas expelled eight US diplomats in July 1988 for interfering in the country's internal affairs, and the US expelled eight Nicaraguan envoys in return.