Assistant Secretaries of State

The Foreign Service Act of 1924 (May 24, 1924; 43 Stat. 146) abolished numerical titles for Assistant Secretaries of State while authorizing the appointment of a fourth Assistant Secretary. Between 1924 and 1944, one Assistant Secretary was in charge of administration, budgets, and finance. Duties of the others varied with each appointment, including at various times legal affairs, consular affairs, economic affairs, and Inter-American affairs. On Dec 8, 1944, an Act of Congress (58 Stat. 798) increased the number of Assistant Secretaries to six. Ever since the Department’s reorganization of Dec 20, 1944, Assistant Secretaries of State have received functional or geographic designations. Unless otherwise specified, they have been commissioned as “an Assistant Secretary of State.”