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Ambassadors of the United States
Ambassadors of the United States to individual nations of the world, to international organizations, to past nations, and ambassadors-at-large are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
- Jon Huntsman - China
- Gary Locke - China
- General Walter Bedell Smith - Soviet Union
- Thomas J. Watson Jr - Soviet Union
- Richard Holbrooke - Germany, & United Nations
- James W. Gerard - Germany
- Frederic M. Sackett - Germany
- Alanson B. Houghton - Germany, & Great Britain
- Amory Houghton - France
- Arthur K. Watson - France
- Brig General Lewis Cass France , US Senator, Secretary of State
- Henry White - Italy & France
- Ogden H. Hammond - Spain
- John Bingham Minister to Japan
- Maj General William Wild Bill Donovan - Thailand, Father of Central Intelligence
- Apostle J. Reuben Clark - Mexico
- John C. White - Haiti & Peru
- Samuel S. Cox - Ottoman Empire
- Oscar Straus - Ottoman Empire, US Secretary of Commerce
- Madeleine Albright - United Nations, 64th US Secretary of State
- Millicent Fenwick - United Nations
- John Negroponte - United Nations, Deputy US Secretary of State, Director of National Intelligence
- W. Randolph Burgess - NATO
- John Hay - Ambassador to United Kingdom 1897, and 37th United States Secretary of State
- Anthony Dryden Marshall - Istanbul (1958–59), Malagasy Republic (1969–71), Trinidad and Tobago (1972–74), Kenya (1973), Seychelles (1976)
Ambassadors
An ambassador can be appointed during a recess of the Senate, but can serve only to the end of the next session of Congress unless subsequently confirmed by the Senate. Ambassadors serve "at the pleasure of the President," which means that they can be dismissed at any time.
An ambassador may be a career foreign service officer or a political appointee.
In most cases, U.S. ambassadors who are career foreign service officers serve a tour of approximately three years in a foreign post. Ambassadors who are political appointees will customarily tender their resignations upon inauguration of a new President. As embassies fall within the Department of State, ambassadors answer to the Secretary of State