List of United States secretaries of state

This is a list of secretaries of state of the United States.

Secretaries of foreign affairs (1781–1789)

On January 10, 1780, the Congress of the Confederation created the Department of Foreign Affairs.
On August 10, 1781, Congress selected Robert R. Livingston, a delegate from New York, as the first secretary for foreign affairs. Livingston was unable to take office until October 20, 1781. He served until June 4, 1783, and was succeeded by Elias Boudinot, who was succeeded by John Jay on December 21, 1784, who served until March 4, 1789, when the government under the Articles of Confederation gave way to the government under the Constitution.
The office of secretary of foreign affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs were reinstated by a law signed by George Washington on July 27, 1789. John Jay retained the post on an interim basis, pending the return of Thomas Jefferson from France.

	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office
1			New York
2			New Jersey
3			New York
—		Acting	New York

Secretaries of state

On September 15, 1789, before Jefferson could return to take the post, Washington signed into law another act which changed the name of the office from Secretary of Foreign Affairs to Secretary of State, changed the name of the department to the Department of State, and added several domestic powers and responsibilities to both the office of secretary and the department. Thomas Jefferson took office as the first secretary of state on March 22, 1790.

18th and 19th centuries

List of secretaries of state from September 15, 1789 to September 29, 1898

20th and 21st centuries

List of secretaries of state from September 30, 1898 to the present.

List of secretaries of state by time in office

This is a list of United States secretaries of state by time in office. This is based on the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater. Cordell Hull is the only person to have served as secretary of state for more than eight years. Daniel Webster and James G. Blaine are the only secretaries of state to have ever served non-consecutive terms. Warren Christopher served very briefly as acting secretary of state non-consecutively with his later tenure as full-fledged secretary of state. Elihu B. Washburne served as secretary of state for less than two weeks before becoming ambassador to France.

No. in office	Secretary	Length of service	Rank
47			1
54			2
24			2
26			4
5			5
8			6
37			7
13			8
60			9
52			10
7		2011	11
42			12
55			13
14/19		1617	14
3			15
45			16
28/31		1472	17
67			17
65			19
51			20
21			20
30			20
40			20
44			20
63			25
64			25
17			25
9			28
27			29
66			30
71			30
68			32
46			33
1			34
22			35
61			36
38			37
56			38
57			39
29			40
70			41
41			42
33			43
10			44
6			45
11			46
50			47
53			48
34			49
2			50
49			51
59			52
18			53
69			54
35			55
12			56
72			57
43		346	58
16		343	59
4			60
58		257	61
32		239	62
15		219	63
48		208	64
36		141	65
20		117	66
23		78	67
62		43	68
39		37	69
25		11	70