Assistant Secretaries of State for Legislative Affairs

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Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last updated March 14, 2024.

The Department of State created the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations and International Conferences during a general reorganization in Dec 1944, after Congress authorized an increase in the number of Assistant Secretaries in the Department from four to six (Dec 8, 1944; P.L. 78-472; 58 Stat 789). The reorganization was the first to assign substantive designations to specific Assistant Secretary positions. The title of the Assistant Secretary responsible for Congressional relations has varied over the years.

Dean Gooderham Acheson (1945)
Ernest Arnold Gross (1949)
Jack Kirkham McFall (1949–1952)
Thruston Ballard Morton (1953–1956)
Robert Charles Hill (1956–1957)
William Butts Macomber Jr. (1957–1961)
Lawrence Brooks Hays (1961)
Frederick Gary Dutton (1961–1964)
Douglas MacArthur II (1965–1967)
William Butts Macomber Jr. (1967–1969)
David Manker Abshire (1970–1973)
William Marshall Wright (1973–1974)
Abner Linwood Holton (1974–1975)
Robert James McCloskey (1975–1976)
Douglas Joseph Bennet Jr. (1977–1979)
John Brian Atwood (1979–1981)
Richard Fairbanks (1981–1982)
Powell Allen Moore (1982–1983)
William Tapley Bennett Jr. (1983–1985)
William Lockhart Ball III (1985–1986)
J. Edward Fox (1986–1989)
Janet Gardner Mullins (1989–1992)
Wendy R. Sherman (1993–1996)
Barbara Mills Larkin (1996–2001)
Paul Vincent Kelly (2001–2005)
Jeffrey Thomas Bergner (2005–2008)
Matthew A. Reynolds (2008–2009)
Richard Rahul Verma (2009–2011)
David S. Adams (2011–2013)
Julia Frifield (2013–2017)
Mary Kirtley Waters (2017–2018)
Mary E. Taylor (2018)