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Seal of the United States Department of State

There has been a United States Ambassador to France since the American Revolution. The United States sent its first envoys to France in 1776, towards the end of the four-centuries-old Bourbon dynasty. The American diplomatic relationship with France has continued throughout that country's five republican regimes, two periods of French empire, the Bourbon Restoration, and its July Monarchy. After the Battle of France, the United States maintained diplomatic relations with Vichy France until France severed them on the date Operation Torch was launched in November, 1942; the Embassy was reopened December, 1944.

[edit] United States Representatives in Paris

The following is a complete list of the credentialed American diplomats sent to France:

[edit] United States Envoys to France

During the Bourbon dynasty:

Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, Silas Deane (substituted by John Adams in 1778) Dec. 1776–1779

John Adams

[edit] United States Ministers Plenipotentiary to France

During the Bourbon dynasty:

Benjamin Franklin -- Appointed Sep 14, 1778; Presented credentials Mar 23, 1779; Termination of mission May 17, 1785
Thomas Jefferson -- Appointed Mar 10, 1785; Presented credentials: May 17, 1785 – Termination of mission September 26, 1789
William Short April 20, 1790 – May 15, 1792

During the First Republic:

Gouverneur Morris 1792–1794
James Monroe 1794–1796
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 1796–1797
Robert R. Livingston 1801–1804

Edward Livingston

During the First French Empire:

John Armstrong 1804–1810
Joel Barlow 1811–1812

During the First French Empire and Bourbon Restoration:

William H. Crawford 1813–1815

[edit] United States Envoys Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France

Albert Gallatin 1816–1823
James Brown 1824–1829

William Lewis Dayton

During the Bourbon Restoration and July Monarchy:

William Cabell Rives 1829–1832
Edward Livingston 1833–1835
Lewis Cass 1836–1842
William R. King 1844–1846

During the July Monarchy and French Second Republic:

Richard Rush 1847–1849

During the French Second Republic and the Second French Empire:

William Cabell Rives 1849–1853
John Young Mason 1853–1859
Charles J. Faulkner 1860–1861
William Lewis Dayton 1861–1864
John Bigelow 1865–1866
John Adams Dix 1866–1869

Levi Parsons Morton

During the Second French Empire and French Third Republic:

Elihu B. Washburne 1869-1877

During the French Third Republic:

Edward Follansbee Noyes 1877–1881
Levi Parsons Morton 1881–1885
Robert Milligan McLane 1885–1889
Whitelaw Reid 1889–1892
Thomas Jefferson Coolidge 1892–1893

Myron T. Herrick

[edit] United States Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France

During the French Third Republic:

James Biddle Eustis 1893–1897
Horace Porter 1897–1905
Robert Sanderson McCormick 1905–1907
Henry White 1907–1909
Robert Bacon 1909–1912
Myron T. Herrick 1912–1914
William Graves Sharp 1914–1919
Hugh Campbell Wallace 1919–1921
Myron T. Herrick 1921–1929
Walter E. Edge 1929-1933
Jesse I. Strauss 1933–1936
William C. Bullitt 1936–1940

Jefferson Caffery

During Vichy France:

William D. Leahy 1941–1942
- After Leahy left, S. Pinkney Tuck served as interim Chargé d'affaires until France severed diplomatic relations with the U.S. on November 8, 1942, the date of Operation Torch

During the French Fourth Republic:

Jefferson Caffery 12/30/1944–1949
- The Embassy in Paris had been opened to the public Dec 1, 1944, with Ambassador Caffery in charge pending presentation of his letter of credence.
David K. E. Bruce 1949–1952
James C. Dunn 1952–1953
C. Douglas Dillon 1953–1957

R. Sargent Shriver

During the French Fourth Republic and the French Fifth Republic:

Amory Houghton 1957-1961

During the French Fifth Republic:

James M. Gavin 1961–1962
Charles E. Bohlen 1962–1968
Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. 1968–1970
Arthur K. Watson 1970–1972
John N. Irwin, II 1973–1974
Kenneth Rush 1974–1977
Arthur A. Hartman 1977–1981
Evan Griffith Galbraith 1981–1985
Joe M. Rodgers 1985–1989
Walter Curley 1989–1993
Pamela Harriman 1993–1997
Felix Rohatyn 1997–2000
Howard H. Leach 2001–2005
Craig Roberts Stapleton 2005–2009
Charles Rivkin 2009–present.^[1]

[edit] References

Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778–2005 from the U.S. Department of State website

^ "New U.S. Envoy Takes Up Post" by Brian Knowlton, The New York Times, Aug. 16, 2009. Retrieved 8/31/09.

[0] "New U.S. Envoy Takes Up Post" by Brian Knowlton, The New York Times, Aug. 16, 2009. Retrieved 8/31/09.

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