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Assistant Secretary of State

Creation of this Position

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Leland Harrison
State of Residency: Illinois
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: [see note below]
Entry on Duty: Jul 1, 1924
Termination of Appointment: Apr 1, 1927
Note: Not recommissioned; continued to serve under his commission as Assistant Secretary of State dated Mar 31, 1922.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Alvey A. Adee
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Non-career appointee
Appointment: [see note below]
Entry on Duty: Jul 1, 1924
Termination of Appointment: Jul 5, 1924
Note: Not recommissioned; continued to serve under his commission as Second Assistant Secretary of State dated Aug 3, 1886.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: J. Butler Wright
State of Residency: Wyoming
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: [see note below]
Entry on Duty: Jul 1, 1924
Termination of Appointment: Apr 17, 1927
Note: Not recommissioned; continued to serve under his commission as Third Assistant Secretary of State dated Jan 30, 1923.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Wilbur John Carr
State of Residency: New York
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jul 1, 1924
Entry on Duty: Jul 1, 1924
Termination of Appointment: Mar 6, 1933
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 3, 1925.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: John Van A. MacMurray
State of Residency: New Jersey
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Nov 18, 1924
Entry on Duty: Nov 19, 1924
Termination of Appointment: May 19, 1925
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 3, 1925.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Robert E. Olds
State of Residency: Minnesota
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Oct 1, 1925
Entry on Duty: Oct 5, 1925
Termination of Appointment: Jun 30, 1927
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 17, 1925.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Francis White
State of Residency: Maryland
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Feb 26, 1927
Entry on Duty: Apr 27, 1927
Termination of Appointment: Jul 2, 1933

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: William R. Castle, Jr.
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Feb 26, 1927
Entry on Duty: Apr 2, 1927
Termination of Appointment: Dec 13, 1929

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Nelson T. Johnson
State of Residency: Oklahoma
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Aug 9, 1927
Entry on Duty: Aug 15, 1927
Termination of Appointment: Dec 26, 1929
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 17, 1927.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: William R. Castle, Jr.
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jun 4, 1930
Entry on Duty: Jul 1, 1930
Termination of Appointment: Apr 1, 1931

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: James Grafton Rogers
State of Residency: Colorado
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Feb 27, 1931
Entry on Duty: Mar 10, 1931
Termination of Appointment: Mar 6, 1933

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Harvey H. Bundy
State of Residency: Massachusetts
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jun 10, 1931
Entry on Duty: Jul 13, 1931
Termination of Appointment: Mar 4, 1933
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 17, 1931.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Wilbur J. Carr
State of Residency: New York
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Mar 6, 1933
Entry on Duty: Mar 7, 1933
Termination of Appointment: Jul 28, 1937

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Raymond Moley
State of Residency: Ohio
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Mar 6, 1933
Entry on Duty: Mar 7, 1933
Termination of Appointment: Sep 7, 1933

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Sumner Welles
State of Residency: Maryland
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Apr 6, 1933
Entry on Duty: Apr 6, 1933
Termination of Appointment: Apr 28, 1933

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Harry F. Payer
State of Residency: Ohio
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jun 13, 1933
Entry on Duty: Jun 19, 1933
Termination of Appointment: Nov 26, 1933

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Jefferson Caffery
State of Residency: Louisiana
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Jul 11, 1933
Entry on Duty: Jul 12, 1933
Termination of Appointment: Dec 4, 1933
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: R. Walton Moore
State of Residency: Virginia
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Sep 19, 1933
Entry on Duty: Sep 19, 1933
Termination of Appointment: May 20, 1937
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 15, 1934.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Francis Bowes Sayre
State of Residency: Massachusetts
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Nov 17, 1933
Entry on Duty: Nov 27, 1933
Termination of Appointment: Aug 7, 1939
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 15, 1934.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Sumner Welles
State of Residency: Maryland
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Dec 12, 1933
Entry on Duty: Dec 15, 1933
Termination of Appointment: May 20, 1937
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 18, 1934.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: George S. Messersmith
State of Residency: Delaware
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Jul 9, 1937
Entry on Duty: Jul 26, 1937
Termination of Appointment: Feb 15, 1940

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Hugh R. Wilson
State of Residency: Illinois
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Jul 9, 1937
Entry on Duty: Aug 23, 1937
Termination of Appointment: Jan 17, 1938

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Adolf A. Berle, Jr.
State of Residency: New York
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Mar 5, 1938
Entry on Duty: Mar 7, 1938
Termination of Appointment: Dec 19, 1944

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Henry F. Grady
State of Residency: California
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Aug 7, 1939
Entry on Duty: Aug 8, 1939
Termination of Appointment: Jan 15, 1941

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Breckinridge Long
State of Residency: Missouri
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jan 16, 1940
Entry on Duty: Jan 23, 1940
Termination of Appointment: Dec 15, 1944

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: Dean G. Acheson
State of Residency: Maryland
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jan 31, 1941
Entry on Duty: Feb 1, 1941
Termination of Appointment: [see note below]
Note: Continued to serve until Aug 15, 1945; designated Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations and International Conferences on Dec 20, 1944.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State
Name: G. Howland Shaw
State of Residency: Massachusetts
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Feb 21, 1941
Entry on Duty: Mar 4, 1941
Termination of Appointment: Dec 14, 1944

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Creation of Position: The Foreign Service Act of 1924 (May 24, 1924; 43 Stat. 146) abolished numerical titles for Assistant Secretaries of State while authorizing the appointment of a fourth Assistant Secretary. Between 1924 and 1944, one Assistant Secretary was in charge of administration, budgets, and finance. Duties of the others varied with each appointment, including at various times legal affairs, consular affairs, economic affairs, and Inter-American affairs. On Dec 8, 1944, an Act of Congress (58 Stat. 798) increased the number of Assistant Secretaries to six. Ever since the Department's reorganization of Dec 20, 1944, Assistant Secretaries of State have received functional or geographic designations. Unless otherwise specified, they have been commissioned as "an Assistant Secretary of State."

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