China - Chiefs of Mission - People - Department
History
Chiefs of Mission for China
NOTE TO READERS
Updates to the Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission database are currently suspended. For information about the Department’s current and recent leadership, we recommend visiting the Department of State homepage’s Biographies of Senior Officials and List of U.S. Ambassadors.
Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last
updated March 14, 2024.
Chiefs of Mission
- Presentation of credentials to the Chief of State upon arrival did not become the normal procedure for U.S. diplomatic representatives in China until 1898. The date given after "presentation of credentials" in the individual entries from 1843 through 1898 represents establishment of an official relationship with appropriate Chinese authorities, not necessarily including communication to them of a letter of credence.
- Caleb Cushing (1800–1879)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, June 12, 1844–August 27, 1844
- Alexander Hill Everett (1790–1847)
- Commissioner, October 26, 1846–June 28, 1847
- John Wesley Davis (1799–1859)
- Commissioner, October 6, 1848–May 25, 1850
- Peter Parker (1804–1888)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, May 1850–July 1853
- Humphrey Marshall (1812–1872)
- Commissioner, July 4, 1853–January 27, 1854
- Robert Milligan McLane (1815–1898)
- Commissioner, November 3, 1854–December 12, 1854
- Peter Parker (1804–1888)
- Commissioner, July 15, 1856–August 25, 1857
- William Bradford Reed (1806–1876)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, May 3, 1858–November 11, 1858
- John Elliott Ward (1814–1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, August 10, 1859–December 15, 1860
- Anson Burlingame (1820–1870)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, August 20, 1862–November 21, 1867
- John Ross Browne (1817–1875)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, October 28, 1868–July 5, 1869
- Frederick Ferdinand Low (1828–1894)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, April 27, 1870–July 24, 1873
- Benjamin Parke Avery (1828–1875)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, November 29, 1874–November 8, 1875
- George Frederick Seward (1840–1910)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, April 24, 1876–August 16, 1880
- James Burrill Angell (1829–1916)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, August 16, 1880–October 4, 1881
- John Russell Young (1840–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, August 17, 1882–April 7, 1885
- Charles Denby (1830–1904)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, October 1, 1885–July 8, 1898
- Edwin Hurd Conger (1843–1907)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, July 8, 1898–April 4, 1905
- William Woodville Rockhill (1854–1914)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, June 17, 1905–June 1, 1909
- William James Calhoun (1848–1916)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, April 21, 1910–February 12, 1912
- Paul Samuel Reinsch (1869–1923)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, November 15, 1913–September 15, 1919
- Charles Richard Crane (1858–1939)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, June 12, 1920–July 2, 1921
- Jacob Gould Schurman (1854–1942)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, September 12, 1921–April 15, 1925
- John Van Antwerp MacMurray (1881–1960)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, July 15, 1925–November 22, 1929
- Nelson Trusler Johnson (1887–1954)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, February 1, 1930–September 17, 1935
- Nelson Trusler Johnson (1887–1954)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, September 17, 1935–May 14, 1941
- Clarence Edward Gauss (1886–1960)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, May 26, 1941–November 14, 1944
- Patrick Jay Hurley (1883–1963)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, January 8, 1945–September 22, 1945
- John Leighton Stuart (1876–1962)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 19, 1946–August 2, 1949
- Karl Lott Rankin (1898–1991)
- Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, August 1950–April 1953
- Karl Lott Rankin (1898–1991)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, April 2, 1953–December 30, 1957
- Everett Francis Drumright (1906–1993)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, March 8, 1958–March 8, 1962
- Alan Goodrich Kirk (1888–1963)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 5, 1962–January 18, 1963
- Jerauld Wright (1898–1995)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, June 29, 1963–July 25, 1965
- Walter Patrick McConaughy Jr. (1908–2000)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, June 28, 1966–April 4, 1974
- David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce (1898–1977)
- Chief, May 14, 1973–September 25, 1974
- Leonard Seidman Unger (1917–2010)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, May 25, 1974–January 19, 1979
- The United States established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, and terminated them with the Republic of China, on January 1, 1979. Embassy Taipei closed February 28, 1979. U.S. Liaison Office Beijing became Embassy Beijing on March 1, 1979.
- George Herbert Walker Bush (1924–2018)
- Chief, October 21, 1974–December 7, 1975
- Thomas Sovereign Gates Jr. (1906–1983)
- Chief, May 6, 1976–May 8, 1977
- Leonard F. Woodcock (1911–2001)
- Chief, July 26, 1977–February 27, 1979
- Leonard F. Woodcock (1911–2001)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, March 7, 1979–February 13, 1981
- Arthur William Hummel Jr. (1920–2001)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, September 24, 1981–September 24, 1985
- Winston Lord (1937–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, November 19, 1985–April 23, 1989
- James Roderick Lilley (1935–2009)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, May 8, 1989–May 10, 1991
- J. Stapleton Roy (1935–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, August 20, 1991–June 17, 1995
- James R. Sasser (1936–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, February 14, 1996–July 1, 1999
- Joseph W. Prueher (1942–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, December 15, 1999–May 1, 2001
- Clark T. Randt Jr. (1945–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 28, 2001–January 20, 2009
- Jon M. Huntsman Jr. (1960–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, August 28, 2009–April 28, 2011
- Gary Locke (1950–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, August 16, 2011–March 1, 2014
- Max Sieben Baucus (1941–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, March 20, 2014–January 16, 2017
- Terry E. Branstad (?–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 12, 2017–October 4, 2020
Other Nominees
- Edward Everett (1794–1865)
- Commissioner: Commissioned to China. Declined appointment.
- Alexander Hill Everett (1790–1847)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: Nomination of February 25, 1845, not confirmed by the Senate.
- Thomas Ames Rogers Nelson (1812–1873)
- Commissioner: Commissioned to China. Did not proceed to post.
- Joseph Blunt (1792–1860)
- Commissioner: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate. Commissioned to China. Declined appointment.
- Robert James Walker (1801–1869)
- Commissioner: Commissioned during recess of the Senate. Commissioned to China. Declined appointment.
- William Alanson Howard (1813–1880)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: Commissioned to China. Took oath of office, but did not proceed to post.
- Henry William Blair (1834–1920)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: Commissioned to China. Took oath of office under recess appointment, but did not proceed to post, the Government of China having objected to his appointment.
- Charles Page Bryan (1856–1918)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: Took oath of office under recess appointment, but did not proceed to post; nomination of January 5, 1898, was withdrawn before the Senate acted upon it.
- Charles Richard Crane (1858–1939)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: Took oath of office, but did not proceed to post.