Since its creation in 1789, the Department of State has carried out a series of reorganizations and has created new offices and bureaus to deal with new diplomatic challenges.
This portion of our website contains a short history of the department, biographies of the Secretaries of State, a database of Chiefs of Mission and Principal Officers, and a history of the buildings of the Department of State.
The Department of State has grown significantly over the years. The first Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, oversaw a small staff of one chief clerk, three other clerks, a translator, and a messenger and only maintained two diplomatic posts, in London and Paris, as well as 10 consular posts.
World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) brought vastly increased global responsibilities to the United States as it emerged as a preeminent power. New challenges after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, included:
To address these changing global circumstances, the number of domestic and overseas employees (not counting local employees) grew to:
The number of diplomatic posts increased from 41 in 1900 to 168 in 2004 and continues to grow.