Career Ambassadors
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.
The class of Career Ambassador was first established by an Act of Congress on Aug 5, 1955, as an amendment to the Foreign Service act of 1946 (P.L. 84-250; 69 Stat. 537). Under its provisions, the President with the advice and consent of the Senate was empowered to appoint individuals to the class who had (1) served at least 15 years in a position of responsibility in a government agency, including at least 3 years as a Career Minister; (2) rendered exceptionally distinguished service to the government; and (3) met other requirements prescribed by the Secretary of State. Under the 1980 Foreign Service Act (P.L. 96-465; 94 Stat. 2084), which repealed the 1946 Act as amended, the President is empowered with the advice and consent of the Senate to confer the personal rank of Career Ambassador upon a career member of the Senior Foreign Service in recognition of especially distinguished service over a sustained period. Except as noted, all persons included in this list are also listed in this volume under the country and Department positions they held.
- James Clement Dunn (1956)
- Loy Wesley Henderson (1956)
- Harrison Freeman Matthews (1956)
- Robert Daniel Murphy (1956)
- George Venable Allen (1960)
- Charles Eustis Bohlen (1960)
- Ellis Ormsbee Briggs (1960)
- Raymond Arthur Hare (1960)
- Livingston Tallmadge Merchant (1960)
- James Williams Riddleberger (1960)
- Llewellyn E. Thompson Jr. (1960)
- William Walton Butterworth (1962)
- Walter Cecil Dowling (1962)
- Frances Elizabeth Willis (1962)
- Ural Alexis Johnson (1964)
- Charles Woodruff Yost (1964)
- Foy David Kohler (1964)
- Douglas MacArthur II (1964)
- Walworth Barbour (1969)
- Winthrop Gilman Brown (1969)
- Charles Burke Elbrick (1969)
- Edwin McCammon Martin (1969)
- Alfred Leroy Atherton Jr. (1981)
- Arthur William Hummel Jr. (1981)
- Walter John Stoessel Jr. (1981)
- Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (1984)
- Arthur Adair Hartman (1984)
- Thomas Reeve Pickering (1984)
- Ronald Ian Spiers (1984)
- Richard William Murphy (1985)
- Deane Roesch Hinton (1987)
- George Southall Vest (1987)
- Terence Alphonso Todman (1989)
- Morton Isaac Abramowitz (1989)
- Herman Jay Cohen (1992)
- Frank G. Wisner II (1995)
- J. Stapleton Roy (1996)
- Mary A. Ryan (1999)
- Jeffrey S. Davidow (2002)
- Ruth A. Davis (2002)
- George Edward Moose (2002)
- Ryan Clark Crocker (2004)
- Marc Isaiah Grossman (2004)
- A. Elizabeth Jones (2004)
- Alan Philip Larson (2004)
- Johnny Young (2004)
- Richard A. Boucher (2008)
- William Joseph Burns (2008)
- Anne Woods Patterson (2008)
- C. David Welch (2008)
- James Franklin Jeffrey (2011)
- Nancy Jo Powell (2011)
- Earl Anthony Wayne (2011)
- William R. Brownfield (2012)
- Kristie Ann Kenney (2012)
- Thomas Alfred Shannon Jr. (2012)
- Stephen D. Mull (2016)
- Victoria Nuland (2016)
- Philip S. Goldberg (2018)
- David Hale (2018)
- Michele Jeanne Sison (2018)
- Daniel Bennett Smith (2018)