1920–1929
February 6, 1920
Departmental Order 158-A established the Division of Political Information.
March 1, 1920
Departmental Order 161 replaced the Adviser on Commercial Treaties with the Foreign Trade Adviser.
April 9, 1920
Departmental Order 165 gave the Director of the Consular Service the additional title of Assistant to the Secretary. The new position placed the Director in charge of administration and general management of the Department, and placed the Chief Clerk under them.
July 21, 1920
Departmental Order 174 established a Diplomatic Personnel Committee to consider appointments and transfers within the Diplomatic Service. On September 1, 1921, Departmental Order 224 established a counterpart for the Consular Service, the Office of Consular Personnel.
March 3, 1921
A Joint Resolution terminating various wartime emergency laws (41 Stat. 1359) lifted travel restrictions imposed during World War I. The Travel Control Act remained in force, but would only be applied in wartime.
March 22, 1921
Departmental Order 193 revoked D.O. 165, and placed Assistant Secretary Wilbur J. Carr in charge of Departmental administration, including the office of the Chief Clerk.
May 5, 1921
Departmental Order 201 established the Division of Foreign Information to replace the Division of Foreign Intelligence.
May 13, 1921
Departmental Order 203 replaced the Bureau of Rolls and Library with the Division of Publications. It had custody of laws, treaties, and Presidential proclamations, supervised Department publications, had charge of the Library, and prepared Foreign Relations and a history of the Department during World War I.
May 19, 1921
The Immigration Act of 1921 (42 Stat. 5) introduced immigration quotas based on national origins. Quotas were set at 3% of the persons of any given nationality who resided in the United States in 1910. They were to be set by the Commissioner-General of Immigration. They would then be submitted to the Secretary of State for transmission to U.S. Diplomatic and Consular officers.
May 24, 1921
Departmental Order 206 replaced the Division of Foreign Intelligence with the Division of Current Information to handle relations with the press.
Departmental Order 207 established the Division of Political Information to replace the Division of Political and Economic Information. It also collected social and geographical information, and was in charge of the Department’s map collection. In 1924 it assumed charge of the Department library.
June 21, 1921
After Section 214(a) of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 required government departments to designate a Budget Officer (42 Stat. 23), Departmental Order 213 appointed Wilbur J. Carr to the position.
June 30, 1921
The remaining diplomatic courier service in Europe was discontinued for economic reasons, but re-established the following year. The courier service in East Asia was discontinued eight months later.
July 1921
A passport agency was opened in Chicago, Illinois. It was closed June 30, 1942, and reopened December 19, 1949.
August 6, 1921
A passport agency was opened in New Orleans, Louisiana.
August 30, 1921
Departmental Order 223 transferred the Chief Special Agent from the office of the Secretary of State to that of the Under Secretary.
December 20, 1921
Departmental Order 236 ½ replaced the Office of the Foreign Trade Adviser with the Office of the Economic Adviser. Arthur C. Millspaugh held the new position.
May 31, 1922
Departmental Order 253 established a five-member Board of Review to determine and administer efficiency ratings of the Department of State’s domestic personnel.
October 10, 1922
Departmental Order 269 made the Division of Russian Affairs the Division of Eastern European Affairs. Its responsibilities were expanded to include Finland, Poland, and the Baltic States.
January 31, 1924
Departmental Order 285-B established an Office of Coordination and Review to oversee the style and format of the Department’s official correspondence.
April 16, 1924
Departmental Order 290 transferred the Library from the Division of Publications to the Division of Political and Economic Information.
May 24, 1924
The Foreign Service Act (Rogers Act, 43 Stat. 146) combined the Diplomatic and Consular Services into the Foreign Service. A Division of Foreign Service Administration replaced the Diplomatic and Consular Bureaus. There would be nine classes of Foreign Service Officers, with salaries ranging from $3,000 in Class 9 to $9,000 in Class 1. Career vice consuls, consular assistants, interpreters, and student interpreters were placed in an unclassified group, with salaries ranging from $1,500 to $3,000. Appointments would be made after examination and after a probationary period in the unclassified grade. Career officers who had been chiefs of mission could be reinstated. A retirement system was established, as were representation allowances (money was not appropriated for the latter until 1931). Home leave was authorized for officers who had served three years abroad. Foreign Service Inspectors replaced the 1906 Consuls General at Large.
Numerical titles for the Assistant Secretaries of State were abolished and the number of Assistant Secretaries was increased to four.
May 26, 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924 (43 Stat. 153) required Consular officers to issue visas to immigrants. Immigration visas were valid for up to four months and were to specify nationality, quota or non-quota status, the expiration date, and any other necessary information. Consular officers were to determine whether or not an applicant was admissible. Immigration quotas were set at 2% of the number of persons of a given nationality who lived in the United States in 1890.
June 7, 1924
President Calvin Coolidge issued Executive Order No. 4022, establishing a Foreign Service Personnel Board consisting of the Under Secretary of State, two Assistant Secretaries of State (one of them the former Director of the Consular Service), and three senior Foreign Service Officers, to study the personnel records of Foreign Service officers to recommend them for promotion. A Board of Examiners, also headed by the Under Secretary, was also established.
It also established the Foreign Service School, which provided training in Department procedures and lectures on foreign affairs. The training program originally lasted one year, but was later shortened to three or four months. Its first class graduated on September 1, 1925.
June 9, 1924
Departmental Order 295 established an Executive Committee of the Foreign Service Personnel Board, which had custody of personnel records, kept efficiency ratings, submitted recommendations for assignments and transfers, granted leaves of absence, and interviewed and examined applicants. A five-member Board of Review was to examine personnel records annually. It was chaired by the Chairman of the Executive Committee, and comprised four senior FSOs selected by the Secretary of State.
July 5, 1924
Assistant Secretary of State Alvey A. Adee died in office at the age of 82, concluding 54 years of service in the Department.
August 19, 1924
Departmental Order 310 established a Division of Foreign Service Administration to replace the Diplomatic and Consular Bureaus, the Bureau of Appointments, and the Office of Consular Personnel.
December 2, 1924
Departmental Order 312 established a Second Board of Review to determine and administer efficiency ratings to lower-level domestic personnel of the Department.
February 13, 1925
Departmental Order 320 established an Executive Committee for the First Board of Review, which was in charge of position classification as well as efficiency ratings. On February 24, 1926, Departmental Order 369 abolished the Executive Committee.
March 3, 1925
Departmental Order 323 transferred the Library from the Division of Political and Economic Information back to the Division of Publications.
An Act of Congress (44 Stat. 1104) placed the Department of State in charge of collecting, editing, and publishing the official papers of the U.S. Territories.
July 1, 1925
The Department of State opened a passport agency in Boston, Massachusetts. The Agency was closed July 15, 1942, and reopened November 28, 1949.
January 16, 1926
Departmental Order 363 renamed Division of Passport Control the Passport Division.
February 24, 1926
Departmental Order 369 created an Administrative Assistant to the Secretary, who was in charge of administration of the Department. Donald P. Evans held the new position.
May 7, 1926
The Foreign Service Building Act (44 Stat. 403) authorized the creation of a Foreign Service Building Fund of up to $10 million for the acquisition of buildings and property for diplomatic and consular missions. A maximum of $2 million could be spent in any one year. A Foreign Service Building Commission consisting of the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce oversaw the program.
May 26, 1926
Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg approved Regulations Governing Foreign Service Officers Assigned to Language Study in China and Japan.
June 17, 1926
Departmental Order 378 removed the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Foreign Service Personnel Board from chairmanship of the Foreign Service Board of Review.
June 23, 1926
Departmental Order 378 ½ established the Foreign Service Buildings Office to administer the acquisition and construction of buildings overseas.
July 3, 1926
An Act of Congress (44 Stat. 887) discontinued the issuance of “emergency” passports. Diplomatic and Consular officers could still issue special “service passports.”
October 30, 1926
Departmental Order 389 abolished the position of Administrative Assistant to the Secretary, effective November 1. The Chief Clerk became “Chief Clerk and Administrative Assistant.”
July 11, 1927
Departmental Order 420 consolidated the two Boards of Review, for determining and administering efficiency ratings for higher-level and lower-level domestic personnel respectivly, into one.
February 4, 1928
Departmental Order 434 established the Division of Protocol. Since its duties included preparations for international conferences, its name was changed in 1929 to the Division of International Conferences and Protocol.
February 25, 1928
President Calvin Coolidge issued Executive Order 4815, which removed the Under Secretary of State from chairmanship of the Foreign Service Personnel Board, the Board of Examiners, and the Foreign Service School. These organizations were to be chaired by an Assistant Secretary of State, and three Assistant Secretaries would serve on the two Boards. These changes were meant to counter charges that undue favoritism in promotions and assignments had been shown to former members of the Diplomatic Service following passage of the Rogers Act.
April 21, 1928
Departmental Order 442 established the Treaty Division.
October 18, 1928
Departmental Order 455 established the Translating Bureau, which replaced the Office of the Translator.
November 2, 1928
Departmental Order 456 made Assistant Secretary Carr responsible for Department administration and placed the Chief Clerk and Administrative Assistant under him. Departmental Order 457 created the position of Fiscal and Budget Officer and gave it to Assistant Secretary Carr.
February 15, 1929
Departmental Order 468 renamed the Division of Publications the Office of the Historical Adviser. It also changed the name of the Division of Protocol to the Division of International Conferences and Protocol.
February 28, 1929
An Act of Congress (45 Stat. 1412) continued the Department of State’s authorization to publish U.S. Territorial Papers, authorized the hiring of up to five historians to edit them, and specified the number of copies to be published and their distribution.
September 11, 1929
President Herbert Hoover issued Executive Order 5189, authorizing the Division of Foreign Service Personnel to replace the Executive Committee of the Foreign Service Personnel Board. Departmental Orders 484-C established it, and Departmental Order 484-B designated Homer M. Byington as its Chief on December 30, 1929.
E.O. 5189 also authorized a Board of Examiners for the Foreign Service. According to Departmental Order 400 of September 16, the Board comprised three Assistant Secretaries, the Chief of the Division of Foreign Service Personnel, and the Chief Examiner of the Civil Service Commission.
October 1929
The Department of State began issuing two information publication series: Press Releases (issued weekly, starting on October 5) and Treaty Information (issued monthly, starting on October 31).