Interesting to note that Cassius Clay was appointed minister to Spain.
I guess Muhammed Ali wasn’t available.
Apparently Clay ended up as ambassador to Russian, not Spain. It turns out that the original Cassius Clay was quite a character - it’s worth a trip to Wikipedia to check him out. One of the highlights:
“His anti-slavery activism earned him violent enemies. During a political debate in 1843, he survived an assassination attempt by Sam Brown, a hired gun. The scabbard of Clay’s Bowie knife was tipped with silver and, in jerking the Bowie knife out in retaliation pulled this scabbard up so that it was just over his heart. Brown’s bullet struck the scabbard and embedded itself in the silver. Despite having been shot in the chest, Clay tackled Brown, and with his Bowie knife removed Brown’s nose and one eye and possibly an ear before he threw Brown over an embankment.”