Second Assistant Secretaries of State

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 Consular and Diplomatic Appropriations Act for the year ending Jun 30, 1867 (Jul 25, 1866; 14 Stat. 226), authorized the President to appoint a Second Assistant Secretary of State. Duties of incumbents varied less over the years than did those of the other Assistant Secretary positions. Responsibilities included: supervision of correspondence with diplomatic officers; preparation of drafts of treaties, conventions, diplomatic notes, and instructions; detailed treatment of current diplomatic and political questions; approval of correspondence for the signature of the Secretary of Acting Secretary; and consultation on matters of diplomatic procedure, international law and policy, and traditional practices of the Department. The Foreign Service Act of 1924 (May 24, 1924; 43 Stat 146) abolished numerical titles for Assistant Secretaries of State.

William Hunter (1886)
Alvey Augustus Adee (1886–1924)