The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet.

Contents

1 History 2 Functions 3 Oath of Office 4 Lists of Secretaries of State 4.1 Secretaries for Foreign Affairs 4.2 Secretaries of State 4.3 Acting Secretaries of State 5 External link

History

On January 10, 1781, the Second Continental Congress created the office of "Secretary for Foreign Affairs" to head a "Department of Foreign Affairs". It wasn't until seven months later, on August 10, 1781, that the Continental Congress finally managed to elect a Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Robert R. Livingston was unable to take office until October 20, 1781.

This office ceased operation on March 4, 1789, when the Articles of Confederation gave way to the Constitution. On July 27, 1789, George Washington signed a congressional bill into law reauthorizing an executive Department of Foreign Affairs headed by a Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Congress then passed another law giving certain additional domestic responsibilities to the new Department and changing its name to the Department of State and the name of head of the department to the Secretary of State, and Washington approved this act on September 15, 1789. The new domestic duties assigned to the newly renamed department were receipt, publication, distribution, and preservation of laws of the United States, custody of the Great Seal of the United States, authentication of copies and preparation of commissions of executive branch appointments, and finally custody of the books, papers, and records of the Continental Congress including the Constitution itself and the Declaration of Independence.

Functions

Most of the original domestic functions of the Department of State have been transferred to other agencies. Those that remain in the Department are: storage and use of the Great Seal, performance of protocol functions for the White House, drafting of certain Presidential proclamations, formally accepting notice of the president's resignation, and replies to public inquiries. In addition, the Secretary performs such duties as the President is required, in accordance with the United States 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.

As the highest-ranking Cabinet member, the Secretary of State is fourth in line to succeed the Presidency, after the Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President pro tempore of the Senate. (See the entire United States presidential line of succession).

Oath of Office

The Oath of Office for the Vice President, Secretary of State, and other federal employees is as follows:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

Lists of Secretaries of State

Secretaries for Foreign Affairs

Name	Term of Office
Robert R. Livingston	October 20, 1781 – June 4, 1783
John Jay	May 7, 1784 – March 3, 1789

Secretaries of State

Name	Term of Office	President(s) served under
Thomas Jefferson	March 22, 1790–December 31, 1793	George Washington
Edmund Randolph	January 2, 1794–August 20, 1795	George Washington
Timothy Pickering	December 10, 1795–May 12, 1800	George Washington, John Adams
John Marshall	June 13, 1800–February 4, 1801	John Adams
James Madison	May 2, 1801–March 3, 1809	Thomas Jefferson
Robert Smith	March 6, 1809–April 1, 1811	James Madison
James Monroe	April 2, 1811–September 30, 1814 February 28, 1815–March 3, 1817	James Madison
John Quincy Adams	March 5, 1817–March 3, 1825	James Monroe
Henry Clay	March 7, 1825–March 3, 1829	John Quincy Adams
Martin Van Buren	March 28, 1829–May 23, 1831	Andrew Jackson
Edward Livingston	May 24, 1831–May 29, 1833	Andrew Jackson
Louis McLane	May 29, 1833–June 30, 1834	Andrew Jackson
John Forsyth	July 1, 1834–March 3, 1841	Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren
Daniel Webster	March 6, 1841–May 8, 1843	William Henry Harrison, John Tyler
Abel Parker Upshur	July 24, 1843–February 28, 1844	John Tyler
John Caldwell Calhoun	April 1, 1844–March 10, 1845	John Tyler
James Buchanan	March 10, 1845–March 7, 1849	James K. Polk [1]
John Clayton	March 8, 1849–July 22, 1850	Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore
Daniel Webster	July 23, 1850–October 24, 1852	Millard Fillmore
Edward Everett	November 6, 1852–March 3, 1853	Millard Fillmore
William Learned Marcy	March 7, 1853–March 6, 1857	Franklin Pierce [1]
Lewis Cass	March 6, 1857–December 14, 1860	James Buchanan
Jeremiah Sullivan Black	December 17, 1860–March 5, 1861	James Buchanan [1]
William Henry Seward	March 5, 1861–March 4, 1869	Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson
Elihu Benjamin Washburne	March 5, 1869–March 16, 1869	Ulysses S. Grant
Hamilton Fish	March 17, 1869–March 12, 1877	Ulysses S. Grant [1]
William Maxwell Evarts	March 12, 1877–March 7, 1881	Rutherford B. Hayes [1]
James Gillespie Blaine	March 7, 1881–December 19, 1881	James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur
Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen	December 19, 1881–March 6, 1885	Chester A. Arthur [1]
Thomas F. Bayard	March 7, 1885–March 6, 1889	Grover Cleveland [1]
James Gillespie Blaine	March 7, 1889–June 4, 1892	Benjamin Harrison
John W. Foster	June 29, 1892–February 23, 1893	Benjamin Harrison
Walter Q. Gresham	March 7, 1893–May 28, 1895	Grover Cleveland
Richard Olney	June 10, 1895–March 5, 1897	Grover Cleveland [1]
John Sherman	March 6, 1897–April 27, 1898	William McKinley
William R. Day	April 28, 1898–September 16, 1898	William McKinley
John Hay	September 30, 1898–July 1, 1905	William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt
Elihu Root	July 19, 1905–January 27, 1909	Theodore Roosevelt
Robert Bacon	January 27, 1909–March 5, 1909	Theodore Roosevelt [1]
Philander C. Knox	March 6, 1909–March 5, 1913	William Howard Taft [1]
William Jennings Bryan	March 5, 1913–June 9, 1915	Woodrow Wilson
Robert Lansing	June 24, 1915–February 13, 1920	Woodrow Wilson
Bainbridge Colby	March 23, 1920–March 4, 1921	Woodrow Wilson
Charles Evans Hughes	March 5, 1921–March 4, 1925	Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge
Frank B. Kellogg	March 5, 1925–March 28, 1929	Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover
Henry L. Stimson	March 28, 1929–March 4, 1933	Herbert Hoover
Cordell Hull	March 4, 1933–November 30, 1944	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Edward Stettinius Jr.	December 1, 1944–June 27, 1945	Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman
James F. Byrnes	July 3, 1945–January 21, 1947	Harry S. Truman
George Catlett Marshall	January 21, 1947–January 20, 1949	Harry S. Truman
Dean Acheson	January 21, 1949–January 20, 1953	Harry S. Truman
John Foster Dulles	January 21, 1953–April 22, 1959	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Christian Herter	April 22, 1959–January 20, 1961	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dean Rusk	January 21, 1961–January 20, 1969	John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson
William P. Rogers	January 22, 1969–September 3, 1973	Richard M. Nixon
Henry A. Kissinger	September 22, 1973–January 20, 1977	Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford
Cyrus Vance	January 23, 1977–April 28, 1980	Jimmy Carter
Edmund Sixtus Muskie	May 8, 1980–January 18, 1981	Jimmy Carter
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr.	January 22, 1981–July 5, 1982	Ronald Reagan
George P. Shultz	July 16, 1982–January 20, 1989	Ronald Reagan
James Baker	January 25, 1989–August 23, 1992	George H. W. Bush
Lawrence Eagleburger	December 8, 1992–January 19, 1993	George H. W. Bush
Warren Christopher	January 20, 1993–January 17, 1997	Bill Clinton
Madeleine Albright	January 23, 1997–January 19, 2001	Bill Clinton
Colin Powell	January 20, 2001 – January 26, 2005	George W. Bush
Condoleezza Rice	January 26, 2005 – present	George W. Bush

^[1] In addition to the President listed, this Secretary of State served for a brief period of time (8 days or less) under that President's successor until a replacement could be named and confirmed.

Acting Secretaries of State

If the Secretary resigns, the United States Deputy Secretary of State serves as Acting Secretary of State until the President and Senate approve a formal replacement.

Name	Term of Service
John Jay	March 4 – 22, 1790
Timothy Pickering	August 20 – December 9, 1795
Charles Lee	May 13 – June 5, 1800
John Marshall	February 4 – March 4, 1801
Levi Lincoln	March 5 – May 1, 1801
John Graham	March 4 – 9, 1817
Richard Rush	March 10 – September 22, 1817
Daniel Brent	March 4 – 7, 1825
James A. Hamilton	March 4 – 27, 1829
Jacob L. Martin	March 4 – 5, 1841
Hugh S. Legaré	May 9 – June 20, 1843
William S. Derrick	June 21 – 23, 1843
Abel P. Upshur	June 24 – July 23, 1843
John Nelson (lawyer)	February 29 – March 31, 1844
Charles M. Conrad	October 25 – November 5, 1852
William Hunter	March 4 – 7, 1853
William Hunter	December 15 – 16, 1860
William F. Wharton	June 4 – 29, 1892
William F. Wharton	February 24 – March 6, 1893
Edwin F. Uhl	May 28 – June 9, 1895
Alvey A. Adee	September 17 – 29, 1898
Francis B. Loomis	July 1 – 18, 1905
Robert Lansing	June 9 – 23, 1915
Frank L. Polk	February 14 – March 12, 1920
Joseph C. Crew	June 28 – July 3, 1945
H. Freeman Matthews	January 20 – 21, 1953
Livingston T. Merchant	January 20 – 21, 1961
Charles E. Bohlen	January 20 – 22, 1969
Kenneth Rush	September 3 – 22, 1973
Philip C. Habib	January 20 – 23, 1977
Warren Christopher	April 28 – May 2, 1980
David Newsom	May 2 – 3, 1980
Richard N. Cooper	May 3, 1980
David Newsom	May 3 – 4, 1980
Warren Christopher	May 4 – 8, 1980
Walter J. Stoessel, Jr.	July 5 – 16, 1982
Michael H. Armacost	January 20 – 25, 1989
Lawrence Eagleburger	August 23 – December 8, 1992
Arnold Lee Kantor	January 20, 1993
Frank G. Wisner	January 20, 1993

External link

• List of Secretaries of State