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Senators Who Served as Ambassadors


Since 1789, 77 senators have served as ambassadors, and a total of 91 have served as ambassadors or held other diplomatic posts.  Some diplomatic titles have been abbreviated, a key to abbreviations is below.


Name & Senate Service DatesTitleCountryDates as Diplomat
John Quincy Adams (1803-1808)

Minister Resident

Minister Resident

Minister Plenipotentiary

EE/MP

Netherlands

Prussia

Russia

United Kingdom

1794-1797

1797-1801

1809-1814

1815-1817

John Armstrong (1802-1804) Minister Plenipotentiary France 1804-1810
Warren R. Austin (1931-1804) Representative United Nations 1947-1953
Arthur P. Bagby (1841-1848) EE/MP Russia 1848-1849
Howard Baker (1967-1984) Ambassador Japan 2001-2005
James Barbour (1813-1826) EE/MP United Kingdom 1828-1829
Max S. Baucus (1978-2014) Ambassador China 2014-2017
Richard H. Bayard (1836-1839;1841-1845) Charge d'Affaires Belgium 1850-1853
Thomas F. Bayard (1869-1886) AE/P Great Britian 1893-1897
Solon Borland (1847-1853) EE/MP Central America 1853-1854
Wiilam E. Brock III (1971-1977) U.S. Trade Rep.   1981-1985
Ethan Allen Brown (1822-1825) Charge d'Affaires Brazil 1830-1834
Scott Brown (2010-2013) Ambassador New Zealand 2017-present
James Buchanan (1834-1845)

EE/MP

EE/MP

Russia

United Kingdom

1832-1833

1853-1856

Simon Cameron (1845-1849;

1857-1861; 1867-1877)

EE/MP

Russia

1862

George W. Campbell (1811-1814;

1815-1818)

EE/MP

Russia

1818-1820

Lewis Cass (1845-1857) EE/MP France 1836-1842
Person C. Cheney (1886-1887) EE/MP Switzerland 1892-1893
Isaac P. Christiancy (1875-1879) EE/MP Peru 1879-1881
Richard C. Clark (1973-1979) Amb. at Large   1979
Powell Clayton (1871-1877) EEMP, AE/P Mexico 1897-1905
Daniel Coats (1989-1999) Ambassador Germany 2001-2005
John Sherman Cooper (1946- 1949; 1952-1955; 1956-1973)

AE/P

AE/P

India & Nepal

German Dem. Republic

1995-1956

1974-1976

Thomas Corwin (1845-1850) EE/MP Mexico 1861-1864
William H. Crawford (1807-1813) MP France 1813-1815
George M. Dallas (1831-1833)

EE/MP

EE/MP

Russia

United Kingdom

1837-1839

1856-1861

John Danforth ( 1976-1995) AE/P United Nations 2004-2005
William L. Dayton (1842-1851) EE/MP France 1861-1864
John A. Dix (1845-1849) EE/MP France 1866-1869
Augustus C. Dodge (1848-1855) EE/MP Spain 1855-1859
Peter H. Dominick (1963-1975) AE/P Switzerland 1975
John H. Eaton (1818-1829) EE/MP Spain 1836-1840
Walter E. Edge (1919-1929) AE/P France 1929-1933
Powhatan Ellis (1825-1832)

Charge d’Affaires

EE/MP

Mexico

Mexico

1836

1839-1842

James B. Eustis (1876-1879; 1885-1891) AE/P France 1893-1897
Edward Everett (1853-1854) EE/MP United Kingdom 1841-1845
Homer Ferguson (1943-1955) AE/P Philippines 1955-1956
George G. Fogg (1866-1867) Minister Resident Switzerland 1861-1865
John Forsyth (1818-1819; 1829-1834) Minister Plenipotentiary Spain 1819-1823
Wyche Fowler, Jr. (1987-1993) Ambassador Saudi Arabia 1997-2001
James S. Green (1857-1861) Charge d’Affaires New Granada* 1853-1854
John P. Hale (1847-1853; 1855-1865) EE/MP Spain 1865-1869
Hannibal Hamlin ( 1848-1849; 1869-1881) EE/MP Spain 1881-1882
Edward A. Hannegan (1843-1849) EE/MP Prussia 1849-1850
Chic Hecht (1983-1989) AE/P The Bahamas 1989-1993
Robert Hendrickson (1949-1955) AE/P New Zealand 1955-1956
William Hunter (1811-1821) CdA, EE/MP Brazil 1834-1843
Kay Bailey Hutchison (1993-2013) AE/P NATO 2017-present
Thomas J. Jarvis (1894-1895) EE/MP Brazil 1885-1888
Reverdy Johnson (1845-1849; 1863-1868)

EE/MP

England 1868-1869
George W. Jones (1848-1859) MR New Granada* 1859-1861
Kenneth B. Keating (1959-1965)

AE/P

AE/P

India

Israel

1969-1972

1973-1975

Frank B. Kellogg (1917-1923) AE/P Great Britain 1923-1925
Rufus King (1789-1796; 1813-1825)

MP

EE/MP

Great Britain

United Kingdom

1796-1803

1825-1826

William R. King (1819-1844;1848-1852) EE/MP France 1844-1846
Robert C. Krueger (1993)

Ambassador at Large

Ambassador

Ambassador

 

Burundi

Botswana

1979-1981

1994-1996

1996-1999

Edward Livingston (1829-1831) EE/MP France 1833-1835
Henry C. Lodge, Jr. (1937-1944; 1947-1953)

Representative

AE/P

Amb. at Large

AE/P

Personal Rep.

United Nations

Vietnam

 

Germany

Vatican

1953-1960

1965-1967

1967-1968

1968-1969

1970-1977

Michael Mansfield (1953-1977) AE/P Japan 1977-1988
Mack Mattingly (1981-1987) AE/P Seychelles 1992-1993
Gale W. McGee (1959-1977) Perm. Rep. OAS 1977-1981
George McGovern (1963-1981) Ambassador

UN Food and

Agriculture

Agency

1998-2001
Louis McLane (1827-1829)

EE/MP

EE/MP

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

1829-1831

1845-1846

Walter F. Mondale (1964-1976) AE/P Japan 1993-1996
James Monroe (1790-1794)

MP

MP

France

Great Britain

1794-1796

1803-1807

Dwight W. Morrow (1930-1931) Ambassador Mexico 1927-1930
Carol Moseley-Braun (1993-1999) Ambassador New Zealand 1999-2001
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1977-2001) AE/P India 1973-1975
Thomas W. Palmer (1883-1889) EE/MP Spain 1889-1890
Frank C. Partridge (1930-1931) EE/MP Venezuela 1893-1894
George H. Pendleton (1879-1885) EE/MP Germany 1885-1889
Samuel H. Piles (1905-1911) EE/MP Colombia 1922-1928
Charles Pinckney (1789-1801) Minister Plenipotentiary Spain 1801-1804
William Pinkney (1819-1822)

Minister Plenipotentiary

EE/MP

Great Britain

Russia

1808-1811

1816-1818

Miles Poindexter (1911-1932) AE/P Peru 1923-1928
Matt W. Ransom (1872-1895) EE/MP Mexico 1895-1897
William C. Rives (1832-1834; 1836-1839; 1841-1845) EE/MP France 1829-1832
Frederic M. Sackett (1925-1930) AE/P Germany 1930-1933
Aaron A. Sargent (1873-1879) EE/MP Germany 1882-1884
James R. Sasser (1977-1995) AE/P China 1995-1999
William B. Saxbe (1969-1974) AE/P India 1975-1976
Carl Schurz (1869-1875) EE/MP Spain 1861
James Semple (1843-1847) Charge D'Affaires New Granada* 1837-1842
Pierre Soule (1847; 1849-1853) EE/MP Spain 1853-1855
John P. Stockton (1865-1866; 1869-1875) Minister Resident Papal States 1858-1861
Richard B. Stone (1975-1980) Ambassador at Large   1983-1984
Martin Van Buren**(1821-1828) EE/MP United Kingdom 1831-1832
John Weller (1852-1857) EE/MP Mexico 1860-1861
William Wilkins (1831-1834) EE/MP Russia 1834-1835
John Williams (1815-1823) Charge D’Affaires Central America 1825-1826
Joseph Wright (1862-1863)

EE/MP

 

Prussia

 

1857-1861

1865-1867

AE/P = Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

EE/MP = Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary

Perm. Rep. = Permanent Representative

CdA = Charge d'Affaires

OAS = Organization of American States

* Colombia

**Nomination rejected by the Senate in January 1832 after he had begun his service.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Principal Officers of the Department of State and United States Chiefs of Mission, 1778-1990, Dept. of State Publication 9825, January 1991; news accounts.