Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission, by Year: 1942

NOTE TO READERS

Updates to the Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission database are currently suspended. For information about the Department’s current and recent leadership, we recommend visiting the Department of State homepage’s Biographies of Senior Officials and List of U.S. Ambassadors.

Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last updated March 14, 2024.

Note: Career Foreign Service appointees are asterisked.

*Norman Armour (1887–1982)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Haiti (1932–1933)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Haiti (1933–1935)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Canada (1935–1938)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Chile (1938–1939)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Argentina (1939–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Spain (1944–1945)
- Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1947–1948)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Venezuela (1950–1951)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Guatemala (1954–1955)
Adolf Augustus Berle Jr. (1895–1971)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1938–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1945–1946)
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. (1896–1961)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Norway (1935–1937)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Poland (1937–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Czechoslovakia (1941–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Belgium (1941–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Greece (1941–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Norway (1941–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Netherlands (1941–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Yugoslavia (1941–1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Greece (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Norway (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Netherlands (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Yugoslavia (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Czechoslovakia (1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Luxembourg (1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Spain (1961)
*Pierre de Lagarde Boal (1895–1966)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Nicaragua (1941–1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Bolivia (1942–1943)
Claude Gernade Bowers (1878–1958)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Spain (1933–1939)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Chile (1939–1953)
Spruille Braden (1894–1978)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Colombia (1935)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Colombia (1939–1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Cuba (1941–1945)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Argentina (1945)
- Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs (1945–1947)
*Jefferson Caffery (1886–1974)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Greece (1923)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, El Salvador (1926–1928)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Colombia (1928–1933)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1933)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Cuba (1934–1937)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1937–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, France (1944–1949)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Egypt (1949–1955)
Francis Patrick Corrigan (1881–1968)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, El Salvador (1934–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Panama (1937–1939)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Venezuela (1939–1947)
*William Dawson Jr. (1885–1972)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Ecuador (1930–1935)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Colombia (1934–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1937–1939)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1937)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Panama (1939–1941)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1941–1946)
- Permanent Representative of the U.S.A. to the Organization of American States (Washington) (1948)
Fay Allen Des Portes (1890–1944)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Bolivia (1933–1936)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Guatemala (1936–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Costa Rica (1943–1944)
*Louis Goethe Dreyfus Jr. (1889–1973)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Iran (1939–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Afghanistan (1940–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Iceland (1944–1946)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sweden (1946–1947)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Afghanistan (1949–1951)
*Cornelius Van Hemert Engert (1887–1985)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Ethiopia (1936)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Iran (1940)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Afghanistan (1942–1945)
John Draper Erwin (1883–1983)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Honduras (1937–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Honduras (1943–1947)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Honduras (1951–1954)
Bert Fish (1875–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Egypt (1933–1941)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Saudi Arabia (1939–1941)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Portugal (1941–1943)
*Robert Frazer (1878–1947)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, El Salvador (1937–1942)
*Wesley Frost (1884–1968)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Paraguay (1941–1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Paraguay (1942–1944)
*Clarence Edward Gauss (1886–1960)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Australia (1940–1941)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, China (1941–1944)
David Gray Jr. (1870–1968)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Ireland (1940–1947)
Green Haywood Hackworth (1883–1973)
- Legal Adviser (1931–1946)
*Leland Harrison (1883–1951)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1922–1924)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1924–1927)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sweden (1927–1929)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1929–1930)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Romania (1935–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (1937–1947)
Carlton Joseph Huntley Hayes (1882–1964)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Spain (1942–1945)
Cordell Hull (1871–1955)
- Secretary of State (1933–1944)
Patrick Jay Hurley (1883–1963)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, New Zealand (1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, China (1944–1945)
*Herschel Vespasian Johnson II (1894–1966)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sweden (1941–1946)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1948–1953)
*Nelson Trusler Johnson (1887–1954)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1927–1929)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, China (1929–1935)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, China (1935–1941)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Australia (1941–1945)
*Leo John Keena (1878–1967)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Honduras (1935–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, South Africa (1937–1942)
*Alexander Comstock Kirk (1888–1979)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Germany (1940)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Egypt (1941–1944)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Saudi Arabia (1941–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Greece (1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Italy (1944–1946)
*Paul Knabenshue (1883–1942)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Iraq (1932–1933)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Iraq (1933–1942)
*Arthur Bliss Lane (1894–1956)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Nicaragua (1933–1936)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Estonia (1936–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Latvia (1936–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Lithuania (1936–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Yugoslavia (1937–1941)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Costa Rica (1941–1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Colombia (1942–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Poland (1944–1947)
William Daniel Leahy (1875–1959)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, France (1940–1942)
Boaz Walton Long (1876–1962)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, El Salvador (1914–1917)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Cuba (1919–1921)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Nicaragua (1936–1938)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Ecuador (1938–1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Ecuador (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Guatemala (1943–1945)
Samuel Miller Breckinridge Long (1881–1958)
- Third Assistant Secretary of State (1917–1920)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Italy (1933–1936)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1940–1944)
Lincoln MacVeagh (1890–1972)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Greece (1933–1941)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Iceland (1941–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, South Africa (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Greece (1943–1947)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Yugoslavia (1943–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Portugal (1948–1952)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Spain (1952–1953)
*George Strausser Messersmith (1883–1960)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Austria (1934–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1934)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1937–1940)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Cuba (1940–1942)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1941–1946)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Argentina (1946–1947)
*Jay Pierrepont Moffat (1896–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Canada (1940–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Luxembourg (1941–1943)
*Leland Burnette Morris (1886–1950)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Germany (1941)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Iceland (1942–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Iran (1944–1945)
*Raymond Henry Norweb (1894–1983)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Bolivia (1936–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Dominican Republic (1937–1940)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Peru (1940–1943)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Portugal (1943–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Portugal (1944–1945)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Cuba (1945–1948)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Panama (1945)
*Hans Frederick Arthur Schoenfeld (1889–1952)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Bulgaria (1928)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Costa Rica (1929)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Dominican Republic (1931–1937)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Finland (1937–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Hungary (1945–1947)
*Robert McGregor Scotten (1891–1968)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Dominican Republic (1940–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Costa Rica (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Ecuador (1943–1947)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, New Zealand (1947–1948)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, New Zealand (1948–1955)
*Gardiner Howland Shaw (1893–1965)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1941–1944)
William Harrison Standley (1872–1963)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Russia (1942–1943)
Laurence Adolph Steinhardt (1892–1950)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sweden (1933–1937)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Peru (1937–1939)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Russia (1939–1941)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1942–1945)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Czechoslovakia (1944–1948)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Canada (1948–1950)
*James Bolton Stewart (1882–1969)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Nicaragua (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Nicaragua (1943–1945)
Myron Charles Taylor (1874–1959)
- Personal Representative of the President, Holy See (1950)
*Charles Wheeler Thayer (1910–1969)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Afghanistan (1942)
*Walter Clarence Thurston (1894–1974)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Costa Rica (1922)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, El Salvador (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, El Salvador (1943–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Bolivia (1944–1946)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1946–1950)
*Harold Hilgard Tittmann Jr. (1893–1980)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Holy See (1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Haiti (1946–1948)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Peru (1948–1955)
*Somerville Pinkney Tuck Jr. (1891–1967)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, France (1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Egypt (1944–1946)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Egypt (1946–1948)
*George Wadsworth II (1893–1958)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Italy (1941)
- Diplomatic Agent/Consul General, Lebanon (1942–1944)
- Diplomatic Agent/Consul General, Syria (1942–1944)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Lebanon (1944–1947)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Syria (1944–1947)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Iraq (1946)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Iraq (1947–1948)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1948–1952)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Czechoslovakia (1952–1953)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Saudi Arabia (1953–1958)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Yemen (1953–1958)
Lester Aglar Walton (1882–1965)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Liberia (1935–1946)
*Avra Milvin Warren (1893–1957)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Dominican Republic (1942–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Dominican Republic (1943–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Panama (1944–1945)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, New Zealand (1945–1947)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Finland (1947–1950)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Pakistan (1949)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Pakistan (1950–1952)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1953–1956)
*Alexander Wilbourne Weddell (1876–1948)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Argentina (1933–1938)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Spain (1939–1942)
*Benjamin Sumner Welles (1892–1961)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Cuba (1933)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1933)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1933–1937)
- Under Secretary of State (1937–1943)
*John Campbell White (1884–1967)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Haiti (1940–1943)
- Diplomatic Agent/Consul General, Morocco (1940–1941)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Haiti (1943–1944)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Peru (1944–1945)
*Edwin Carleton Wilson (1893–1972)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1939–1941)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Panama (1941–1943)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1945–1948)
*Thomas Murray Wilson (1881–1967)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Iraq (1942–1943)
John Gilbert Winant (1889–1947)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, United Kingdom (1941–1946)