Seal of U.S. State Dept. 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 .
History
George Washington signed a congressional bill into law on July 27 , 1789 (1 Stat. 28), creating an executive Department of Foreign Affairs headed by a Secretary of Foreign Affairs , whose position had existed since 1781 under the Articles of Confederation . 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 domestic functions 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, 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 ).
List of secretaries of state
Name
Term of Office
President(s) served underThomas 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 6 , 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 6 , 1811 –September 30 , 1814 February 28 , 1815 –March 3 , 1817 James Madison John Quincy Adams September 22 , 1817 –March 3 , 1825 James Monroe Henry Clay March 7 , 1825 –March 3 , 1829 John Quincy Adams Martin Van Buren March 28 , 1829 –March 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 P. Upshur July 24 , 1843 –February 28 , 1844 John Tyler John C. Calhoun April 1 , 1844 –March 10 , 1845 John Tyler , James K. Polk James Buchanan March 10 , 1845 –March 7 , 1849 James K. Polk , Zachary Taylor 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 L. Marcy March 8 , 1853 –March 6 , 1857 Franklin Pierce , James Buchanan Lewis Cass March 6 , 1857 –December 14 , 1860 James Buchanan Jeremiah S. Black December 17 , 1860 –March 5 , 1861 James Buchanan , Abraham Lincoln William H. Seward March 6 , 1861 –March 4 , 1869 Abraham Lincoln , Andrew Johnson Elihu B. Washburne March 5 , 1869 –March 16 , 1869 Ulysses S. Grant Hamilton Fish March 17 , 1869 –March 12 , 1877 Ulysses S. Grant , Rutherford B. Hayes William M. Evarts March 12 , 1877 –March 7 , 1881 Rutherford B. Hayes , James Garfield James G. Blaine March 7 , 1881 –December 19 , 1881 James Garfield , Chester A. Arthur Frederick T. Frelinghuysen December 19 , 1881 –March 6 , 1885 Chester A. Arthur , Grover Cleveland Thomas F. Bayard March 7 , 1885 –March 6 , 1889 Grover Cleveland , Benjamin Harrison James G. 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 , William McKinley 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 , William Howard Taft Philander C. Knox March 6 , 1909 –March 5 , 1913 William Howard Taft , Woodrow Wilson 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 C. 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 S. Muskie May 8 , 1980 –January 18 , 1981 Jimmy Carter Alexander M. 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 –presentGeorge W. Bush
If the Secretary resigns , he is replaced by the United States Deputy Secretary of State who then becomes acting Secretary of State until the President and Congress approve a formal replacement.
Acting Secretaries of State
Name
Year
Acted from
John Jay 1790 March 4–22
Timothy Pickering 1795 August 20 to December 9
Charles Lee 1800 May 13 to June 5
John Marshall 1801 February 4 to March 4
Levi Lincoln 1801 March 5 to May 1
John Graham 1817 March 4–9
Richard Rush 1817 March 10 to September 22
Daniel Brent 1825 March 4–7
James A. Hamilton 1829 March 4–27
Jacob L. Martin 1841 March 4–5
Hugh S. Legaré 1843 May 9 to June 20
William S. Derrick 1843 June 21–23
Abel P. Upshur 1843 June 24 to July 23
John Nelson 1844 February 29 to March 31,
Charles M. Conrad 1852 October 25 to November 5
William Hunter 1853 , 1860 March 4–7, December 15–16
William F. Wharton 1892 , 1893 June 4–29, February 24 to March 6
Edwin F. Uhl 1895 May 28 to June 9
Alvey A. Adee 1898 September 17–29
Francis B. Loomis 1905 July 1–18
Robert Lansing 1915 June 9–23
Frank L. Polk 1920 February 14 to March 12
Joseph C. Crew 1945 June 28 to July 3
H. Freeman Matthews 1953 January 20–21
Livingston T. Merchant 1961 January 20–21
Charles E. Bohlen 1969 January 20–22
Kenneth Rush 1973 September 3–22
Philip C. Habib 1977 January 20–23
Warren Christopher 1980 , 1980 April 28 to May 2, May 4–8
David Newsom 1980 May 2–3, May 3–4
Richard N. Cooper 1980 May 3
Walter J. Stoessel, Jr. 1982 July 5–16
Michael H. Armacost 1989 January 20–25
Lawrence Eagleburger 1992 August 23, to December 8
Arnold Lee Kantor 1993 January 20
Frank G. Wisner 1993 January 20
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