Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

United States
Assistant Secretary of State
for European and Eurasian Affairs
United States; Assistant Secretary of State; for European and Eurasian Affairs
	Seal of the United States Department of State
	Incumbent; James C. O'Brien; since October 5, 2023
Reports to	Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Nominator	President of the United States
Inaugural holder	George Walbridge Perkins Jr.
Formation	August 1949
Website	Official website

The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs is a position within the United States Department of State that leads the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs charged with implementing American foreign policy in Europe and Eurasia, and with advising the Under Secretary for Political Affairs on matters relating to diplomatic missions within that area.

Originally, the Department of State first established a Division of Western European Affairs in 1909, which handled European states primarily bordering on the Atlantic Ocean and their colonies. The Division of Near Eastern Affairs handled relations with most Central, Eastern, and Southern European countries until after World War I. During the interwar period, responsibility for much of Central and Eastern Europe shifted to the Division of European Affairs, although Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus were handled as part of the Near East until April 18, 1974. Following World War II, the department completed the transfer of responsibility for the former colonies of European nations, except Canada, to the Bureaus of Near Eastern, South Asian, African Affairs, and Far Eastern Affairs.

The Department of State later established the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs in 1949. This came after the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of Government, also known as the Hoover Commission, recommended that certain offices be upgraded to bureau level after Congress had increased the number of Assistant Secretaries of State from six to ten. On September 14, 1983, an administrative action changed the title of the incumbent to Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs. On January 12, 1999, the title was changed back to Assistant Secretary for European Affairs.

Officeholders[edit]

Name	Assumed office	Left office	President served under
Assistant Secretaries of State for European Affairs
George Walbridge Perkins, Jr.	August 1, 1949	January 31, 1953	Harry S. Truman
Livingston T. Merchant	March 16, 1953	May 6, 1956	Dwight D. Eisenhower
James Williams Riddleberger	^[1]
Charles Burke Elbrick	February 14, 1957	November 16, 1958
Livingston T. Merchant	November 18, 1958^[2]	August 20, 1959
Walter C. Dowling	^[3]
Foy D. Kohler	December 11, 1959^[4]	August 19, 1962	Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy
William R. Tyler	September 2, 1962	May 18, 1965	John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
John M. Leddy	June 16, 1965	February 19, 1969	Lyndon B. Johnson
Martin J. Hillenbrand	February 20, 1969	April 30, 1972	Richard Nixon
Walter John Stoessel Jr.	August 9, 1972	January 7, 1974	Richard Nixon
Arthur A. Hartman	January 8, 1974	June 8, 1977	Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford
George S. Vest	June 16, 1977	April 14, 1981	Jimmy Carter
Lawrence Eagleburger	May 14, 1981	January 26, 1982	Ronald Reagan
Assistant Secretaries of State for European and Canadian Affairs
Richard R. Burt	February 18, 1983^[5]	July 18, 1985	Ronald Reagan
Rozanne L. Ridgway	July 19, 1985	June 30, 1989^[6]	Ronald Reagan
Raymond G. H. Seitz	August 8, 1989	April 30, 1991	George H. W. Bush
Thomas Niles	October 3, 1991	April 1, 1993	George H. W. Bush
Stephen A. Oxman	April 2, 1993	August 15, 1994	Bill Clinton
Richard Holbrooke	September 13, 1994	February 21, 1996
John C. Kornblum	July 3, 1996	August 1, 1997
Marc Grossman	August 5, 1997	January 12, 1999
Assistant Secretaries of State for European Affairs
Marc Grossman	January 12, 1999	May 31, 2000	Bill Clinton
James F. Dobbins	January 4, 2001^[7]	June 1, 2001^[8]	Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
A. Elizabeth Jones	June 1, 2001	August 8, 2001	George W. Bush
Assistant Secretaries of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
A. Elizabeth Jones	August 8, 2001	February 28, 2005	George W. Bush
Daniel Fried	May 5, 2005	January 20, 2009	George W. Bush
Philip Gordon	May 15, 2009	March 11, 2013	Barack Obama
Victoria Nuland	September 18, 2013	January 20, 2017	Barack Obama
John A. Heffern (acting)	January 20, 2017	August 23, 2017	Donald Trump
A. Wess Mitchell	October 12, 2017	February 15, 2019
Michael Murphy (Senior Bureau Official)^[9]	February 18, 2019	March 18, 2019
Philip T. Reeker (acting)	March 18, 2019	July 31, 2021^[10]	Donald Trump
Philip T. Reeker (acting)	March 18, 2019	July 31, 2021^[10]	Joe Biden
Maureen Cormack (acting)	August 2, 2021	September 28, 2021^[11]	Joe Biden
Karen Donfried	September 30, 2021^[12]	March 31, 2023
Dereck J. Hogan (acting)	April 1, 2023	July 10, 2023
Yuri Kim (acting)	July 10, 2023	October 5, 2023
James C. O'Brien	October 5, 2023	Incumbent

References[edit]

^ Appointed on October 15, 1956; declined appointment.
^ Initially commissioned during Senate recess; after confirmation by Senate, re-commissioned on January 29, 1959.
^ Appointed August 26, 1959, but never took oath of office.
^ Initially commissioned during Senate recess; after confirmation by Senate, re-commissioned on January 27, 1960.
^ He was first nominated on May 10, 1982, but the Senate did not act on this first nomination.
^ The State Department's website [1] gives the date as June 30, 1985, but given the context, this appears to be a typo for 1989.
^ He had previously been nominated on September 26, 2000, but the Senate did not act on that nomination.
^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. "Dobbins, James". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
^ "Technical Difficulties".
^ "Philip T. Reeker". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
^ "Maureen E. Cormack". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
^ "Technical Difficulties".

External links[edit]

Official website

[1] Appointed on October 15, 1956; declined appointment.

[2] Initially commissioned during Senate recess; after confirmation by Senate, re-commissioned on January 29, 1959.

[3] Appointed August 26, 1959, but never took oath of office.

[4] Initially commissioned during Senate recess; after confirmation by Senate, re-commissioned on January 27, 1960.

[5] He was first nominated on May 10, 1982, but the Senate did not act on this first nomination.

[6] The State Department's website [1] gives the date as June 30, 1985, but given the context, this appears to be a typo for 1989.

[7] He had previously been nominated on September 26, 2000, but the Senate did not act on that nomination.

[8] Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. "Dobbins, James". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-12.

[9] "Technical Difficulties".

[10] "Philip T. Reeker". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2021-09-28.

[11] "Maureen E. Cormack". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2021-10-05.

[12] "Technical Difficulties".

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