 He joined the Peace Corp, working in West Africa and returned to USAID.Richard Nixon nominated him to be the US Ambassador to Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland (currently called Eswatini on June 9, 1971 and he served from 1971 to 1974.From 1974 until 1978, Nelson worked in Nairobi, Kenya as USAID's Director of Kenya Programs.