Secretaries of State
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Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last
updated March 14, 2024.
Congress created the position of Secretary of State on Jul 27, 1789 (1 Stat.
28), as the principal officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs (later renamed
Department of State). The Secretary was to perform such duties as the President
required, in accordance with the Constitution, relating to correspondence,
commission, or instructions to U.S. ministers or consuls abroad, and to conduct
negotiations with foreign representatives.
The Secretary has also served as principal adviser to the President in the determination and execution of U.S. foreign policy and in recent decades has become responsible for overall direction, coordination, and supervision of interdepartmental activities of the U.S. Government overseas, except for certain military activities.
The Act of Congress of Sep 5, 1789, that changed the name of the Department of Foreign Affairs assigned various domestic duties to the Department of State. Nearly all were later reassigned to other agencies. This list does not include individuals designated to act as Secretaries of State when the Secretaryship was vacant. These individuals are usually referred to collectively as Secretaries of State ad interim.
- Thomas Jefferson (1790–1793)
- Edmund Jennings Randolph (1794–1795)
- Timothy Pickering (1795–1800)
- John Marshall (1800–1801)
- James Madison (1801–1809)
- Robert Smith (1809–1811)
- James Monroe (1811–1814)
- James Monroe (1815–1817)
- John Quincy Adams (1817–1825)
- Henry Clay (1825–1829)
- Martin Van Buren (1829–1831)
- Edward Livingston (1831–1833)
- Louis McLane (1833–1834)
- John Forsyth (1834–1841)
- Daniel Webster (1841–1843)
- Abel Parker Upshur (1843–1844)
- John Caldwell Calhoun (1844–1845)
- James Buchanan (1845–1849)
- John Middleton Clayton (1849–1850)
- Daniel Webster (1850–1852)
- Edward Everett (1852–1853)
- William Learned Marcy (1853–1857)
- Lewis Cass (1857–1860)
- Jeremiah Sullivan Black (1860–1861)
- William Henry Seward (1861–1869)
- Elihu Benjamin Washburne (1869)
- Hamilton Fish (1869–1877)
- William Maxwell Evarts (1877–1881)
- James Gillespie Blaine (1881)
- Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1881–1885)
- Thomas Francis Bayard (1885–1889)
- James Gillespie Blaine (1889–1892)
- John Watson Foster (1892–1893)
- Walter Quintin Gresham (1893–1895)
- Richard Olney (1895–1897)
- John Sherman (1897–1898)
- William Rufus Day (1898)
- John Milton Hay (1898–1905)
- Elihu Root (1905–1909)
- Robert Bacon (1909)
- Philander Chase Knox (1909–1913)
- William Jennings Bryan (1913–1915)
- Robert Lansing (1915–1920)
- Bainbridge Colby (1920–1921)
- Charles Evans Hughes (1921–1925)
- Frank Billings Kellogg (1925–1929)
- Henry Lewis Stimson (1929–1933)
- Cordell Hull (1933–1944)
- Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (1944–1945)
- James Francis Byrnes (1945–1947)
- George Catlett Marshall (1947–1949)
- Dean Gooderham Acheson (1949–1953)
- John Foster Dulles (1953–1959)
- Christian Archibald Herter (1959–1961)
- David Dean Rusk (1961–1969)
- William Pierce Rogers (1969–1973)
- Henry A. (Heinz Alfred) Kissinger (1973–1977)
- Cyrus Roberts Vance (1977–1980)
- Edmund Sixtus Muskie (1980–1981)
- Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (1981–1982)
- George Pratt Shultz (1982–1989)
- James Addison Baker III (1989–1992)
- Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (1992–1993)
- Warren Minor Christopher (1993–1997)
- Madeleine Korbel Albright (1997–2001)
- Colin Luther Powell (2001–2005)
- Condoleezza Rice (2005–2009)
- Hillary Rodham Clinton (2009–2013)
- John Forbes Kerry (2013–2017)
- Rex W. Tillerson (2017–2018)
- Michael R. Pompeo (2018–2021)
- Antony John Blinken (2021–2025)
- Marco Rubio (2025)