List of ambassadors of the United States to Poland

Ambassador of the United States to Poland
Ambasadorowie Stanów Zjednoczonych w Polsce
Seal of the United States Department of State
Incumbent
Georgette Mosbacher
since September 6, 2018
Nominator The President of the United States
Inaugural holder Hugh S. Gibson
as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Formation April 16, 1919
Website U.S. Embassy - Warsaw

The history of Ambassadors of the United States to Poland began in 1919.

Until the end of the Great War, Poland had been partitioned between Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. After the war and the collapse of the empires, Poland became an independent republic in 1918.

The United States recognized the Second Polish Republic and established diplomatic relations. The first U.S. Minister to Poland was Hugh S. Gibson, appointed in 1919.

Diplomatic relations were maintained throughout the years of World War II with the government-in-exile of Poland resident in London.

The U.S. Embassy in Poland is located in Warsaw.

Ambassadors

U.S. diplomatic terms

Career FSO
After 1915, The United States Department of State began classifying ambassadors as career Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) for those who have served in the Foreign Service for a specified amount of time.

Political appointee
A person who is not a career foreign service officer, but is appointed by the president (often as a reward to political friends).

Appointed
The date that the ambassador took the oath of office; also known as “commissioning”. It follows confirmation of a presidential appointment by the Senate, or a Congressional recess appointment by the president. In the case of a recess appointment, the ambassador requires subsequent confirmation by the Senate to remain in office.

Presented credentials
The date that the ambassador presented his letter of credence to the head of state or appropriate authority of the receiving nation. At this time the ambassador officially becomes the representative of his country. This would normally occur a short time after the ambassador’s arrival on station. The host nation may reject the ambassador by not receiving the ambassador’s letter, but this occurs only rarely.

Terminated mission
Usually the date that the ambassador left the country. In some cases a letter of recall is presented, ending the ambassador’s commission, either as a means of diplomatic protest or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and replaced by another envoy.

Chargé d'affaires
The person in charge of the business of the embassy when there is no ambassador commissioned to the host country. See chargé d'affaires.

Ad interim
Latin phrase meaning "for the time being", "in the meantime". See ad interim.
  • Hugh S. Gibson[1] – Career FSO
    • Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: April 16, 1919
    • Presented credentials: May 2, 1919
    • Terminated mission: Presented recall May 3, 1924
  • Alfred J. Pearson – Political appointee
    • Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: April 2, 1924
    • Presented credentials: June 26, 1924
    • Terminated mission: Left post August 18, 1925
  • John B. Stetson Jr.[2] – Political appointee
    • Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: July 3, 1925
    • Presented credentials: August 29, 1925
    • Terminated mission: Left post August 29, 1929

Note: From 1930 onward, the U.S. envoy to Poland had the rank of ambassador.

  • Alexander P. Moore – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: January 31, 1930
    • President Hoover nominated Moore as ambassador, but Moore died before taking the oath of office.
  • John N. Willys – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: March 8, 1930
    • Presented credentials: May 24, 1930
    • Terminated mission: Left post May 30, 1932[3]
  • Ferdinand Lammot "Mot" Belin[4][5] – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: November 2, 1932[3]
    • Presented credentials: December 13, 1932
    • Terminated mission: Recess appointment expired, March 4, 1933

Note: President Roosevelt nominated James Michael Curley for the post in 1933 but withdrew the nomination before the Senate acted upon it.

  • John Cudahy – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: June 13, 1933
    • Presented credentials: September 6, 1933
    • Terminated mission: Left post April 23, 1937
  • Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: May 4, 1937
    • Presented credentials: June 2, 1937
    • Terminated mission: Left London December 1, 1943

Wartime Notes:

  • Biddle was the U.S. ambassador in Warsaw in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, which action set off World War II. The government of Poland evacuated the country, first to France (September 1939–June 1940) and later to England. Rudolf E. Schoenfeld opened the U.S. embassy near the government of Poland established in England, making his initial call as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim on September 21, 1940. Biddle followed the government-in-exile to London, where he arrived on March 14, 1941, and continued as ambassador through 1943.
  • Biddle was also commissioned to the governments-in-exile of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Yugoslavia.
  • The U.S. embassy in London to the government-in-exile of Poland was terminated on July 5, 1945. Rudolf E. Schoenfeld was still serving as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim when United States withdrew the recognition of the Polish government in exile, recognizing the new communist government, and the mission in London was closed.
  • The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw was reestablished on July 5, 1945, the same day on which the embassy in London was closed. Ambassador Lane (see below) was in charge of the embassy pending his presentation of credentials.
  • Arthur Bliss Lane – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: September 21, 1944
    • Presented credentials: August 4, 1945
    • Terminated mission: Left post February 24, 1947
  • Stanton Griffis – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: May 15, 1947
    • Presented credentials: July 9, 1947
    • Terminated mission: Left post April 21, 1948
  • Waldemar J. Gallman[6] – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: July 7, 1948
    • Presented credentials: October 15, 1948
    • Terminated mission: Left post July 8, 1950
  • Joseph Flack – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: September 20, 1950
    • Presented credentials: November 30, 1950
    • Terminated mission: Left Poland, April 22, 1955
  • Joseph E. Jacobs – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: April 1, 1955
    • Presented credentials: May 23, 1955
    • Terminated mission: Left post July 23, 1957
  • Jacob D. Beam – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: June 26, 1957
    • Presented credentials: August 9, 1957
    • Terminated mission: Left post November 30, 1961
  • John M. Cabot – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: January 30, 1962
    • Presented credentials: March 2, 1962
    • Terminated mission: Left post September 24, 1965
  • John A. Gronouski – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: September 11, 1965
    • Presented credentials: December 7, 1965
    • Terminated mission: Left post May 26, 1968
  • Walter J. Stoessel Jr. – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: July 24, 1968
    • Presented credentials: September 12, 1968
    • Terminated mission: Left post August 5, 1972
  • Richard T. Davies[7] – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: December 2, 1972
    • Presented credentials: January 5, 1973
    • Terminated mission: Left post February 5, 1978
  • William E. Schaufele Jr. – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: February 3, 1978
    • Presented credentials: March 30, 1978
    • Terminated mission: Left post September 11, 1980
  • Francis J. Meehan – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: October 2, 1980
    • Presented credentials: October 27, 1980
    • Terminated mission: Left post February 11, 1983

Note: The following officers served as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim: Herbert E. Wilgis Jr. (February–July 1983); and John R. Davis Jr. (September 1983–January 1987). Davis was appointed as Chargé d'Affaires on January 9, 1987 and subsequently appointed as ambassador.

  • John R. Davis Jr. – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: February 5, 1988
    • Presented credentials: March 17, 1988
    • Terminated mission: Left post July 20, 1990
  • Thomas W. Simons Jr. – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: August 6, 1990
    • Presented credentials: September 11, 1990
    • Terminated mission: Left post April 28, 1993
  • Nicholas Andrew Rey – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: November 22, 1993
    • Presented credentials: December 21, 1993
    • Terminated mission: Left post October 25, 1997
  • Daniel Fried – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: November 10, 1997
    • Presented credentials: November 27, 1997
    • Terminated mission: Left post May 6, 2000
  • Christopher R. Hill – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: May 31, 2000
    • Presented credentials: July 27, 2000
    • Terminated mission: Left post April 14, 2004
  • Victor Henderson Ashe – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: May 26, 2004
    • Presented credentials: August 17, 2004
    • Terminated mission: September 29, 2009
  • Lee A. Feinstein – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: September 28, 2009
    • Presented credentials: October 20, 2009
    • Terminated mission: October, 2012
  • Stephen Mull – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: November 8, 2012
    • Presented credentials: October 24, 2012
    • Terminated mission: August 29, 2015
  • Paul W. Jones – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: June 8, 2015
    • Presented credentials: September 24, 2015
    • Terminated mission: July 28, 2018
  • Georgette Mosbacher – Political appointee
    • Appointed: February 14, 2018
    • Presented credentials: September 6, 2018
    • Terminated mission: incumbent

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gibson was commissioned during a recess of the Senate but the commission not on record; he took oath of office on April 16, 1919. He was recommissioned on June 26, 1919, after confirmation.
  2. ↑ Stetson was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on December 17, 1925.
  3. 1 2 "THE PRESIDENCY: Thanksgiving", Time, 14 November 1932, retrieved 20 October 2011
  4. ↑ Shapira, Ian (15 October 2011), "A family's hidden history is revealed after sale of their grand Georgetown estate", Washington Post, retrieved 20 October 2011
  5. ↑ Belin was appointed during a recess of the Senate. He was not recommissioned and his recess appointment expired with the beginning of the next Senate.
  6. ↑ Gallman was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on March 2, 1949.
  7. ↑ Davies was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on February 8, 1973.
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