United States secretary of state

The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State.

United States Secretary of State
Seal of the secretary of state
Flag of the secretary of state
Incumbent Marco Rubio since January 21, 2025
United States Department of State
Style	Mr. Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal) His Excellency (diplomatic)
Abbreviation	SecState
Member of	Cabinet of the United States United States National Security Council
Reports to	President of the United States
Seat	Harry S Truman Building Washington, D.C.
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	22 U.S.C. § 2651
Precursor	Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Formation	July 27, 1789; 235 years ago (1789-07-27)
First holder	Thomas Jefferson
Succession	Fourth
Deputy	United States Deputy Secretary of State
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level I
Website	state.gov/secretary

The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all foreign affairs matters. The secretary carries out the president's foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development. The office holder is the second-highest-ranking member of the president's cabinet, after the vice president, and ranks fourth in the presidential line of succession; first amongst cabinet secretaries.

Created in 1789 with Thomas Jefferson as its first office holder, the secretary of state represents the United States to foreign countries, and is therefore considered analogous to a secretary or minister of foreign affairs in other countries. The secretary of state is nominated by the president of the United States and, following a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is confirmed by the Senate. The secretary of state, along with the secretary of the treasury, secretary of defense, and attorney general, are generally regarded as the four most crucial Cabinet members because of the importance of their respective departments.

The secretary of state is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule and thus earns the salary prescribed for that level $250,600, as of January 2025.

History

The secretary of state originates from the government under the Articles of Confederation. The Congress of the Confederation established the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1781 and created the office of secretary of foreign affairs. After the Constitution of the United States was ratified, the 1st United States Congress reestablished the department, renaming it the Department of State, and created the office of secretary of state to lead the department.

Duties and responsibilities

The stated duties of the secretary of state are to supervise the United States foreign service and immigration policy and administer the Department of State. The secretary must also advise the president on U.S. foreign matters such as the appointment of diplomats and ambassadors, advising the president of the dismissal and recall of these people. The secretary of state can conduct negotiations, interpret, and terminate treaties relating to foreign policy. The secretary also can participate in international conferences, organizations, and agencies as a representative of the United States. The secretary communicates issues relating to the U.S. foreign policy to Congress and citizens. The secretary also provides services to U.S. citizens living or traveling abroad such as providing credentials in the form of passports. Doing this, the secretary also ensures the protection of citizens, their property, and interests in foreign countries.

What are the Qualifications of a Secretary of State? He ought to be a Man of universal Reading in Laws, Governments, History. Our whole terrestrial Universe ought to be summarily comprehended in his Mind.

—John Adams

Secretaries of state also have domestic responsibilities. Most of the historical domestic functions of the Department of State were gradually transferred to other agencies by the late 19th century as part of various administrative reforms and restructurings. Those that remain include storage and use of the Great Seal, performance of protocol functions for the White House, and the drafting of certain proclamations. The secretary also negotiates with the individual states over the extradition of fugitives to foreign countries. Under federal law, the resignation of a president or of a vice president is valid only if declared in writing, in an instrument delivered to the office of the secretary of state. Accordingly, the resignations of President Richard Nixon and of Vice President Spiro Agnew were formalized in instruments delivered to then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Although they have historically decreased over time, Congress may occasionally add to the responsibilities of the secretary of state. One such instance occurred in 2014, when Congress passed the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act which mandated actions the secretary of state must take in order to facilitate the return of abducted children from nations who are party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

As the highest-ranking member of the cabinet, the secretary of state is the third-highest official of the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president and vice president, and is fourth in line to succeed the presidency, after the vice president, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the president pro tempore of the Senate.

Six past secretaries of state – Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Van Buren and Buchanan – have gone on to be elected president. Others, including Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Lewis Cass, John C. Calhoun, John M. Clayton, William L. Marcy, William Seward, Edward Everett, Jeremiah S. Black, James Blaine, Elihu B. Washburne, Thomas F. Bayard, John Sherman, Walter Q. Gresham, William Jennings Bryan, Philander C. Knox, Charles Evans Hughes, Elihu Root, Cordell Hull, Edmund Muskie, Alexander Haig, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Marco Rubio have also campaigned as presidential candidates, either before or after their term of office as secretary of state, but were ultimately unsuccessful. The position of secretary of state has therefore been viewed to be a consolation prize for failed presidential candidates.

Timeline of secretaries of state

The following timeline depicts the progression of the secretaries of state and their political affiliation at the time of assuming office.

See also

• List of international trips made by secretaries of state of the United States

References

1. "Protocol Reference". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
2. "United Nations Heads of State, Protocol and Liaison Service" (PDF). United Nations. January 29, 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 14, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
3. "3 U.S. Code § 19 – Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act". Cornell Law School. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
4. 5 U.S.C. § 5312.
5. "Abbreviations and Terms" (PDF). 2001-2009.state.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 18, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
6. "Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers for Foreign Affairs", Protocol and Liaison Service, United Nations. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
7. NATO Member Countries Archived October 1, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, NATO. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
8. "Cabinets and Counselors: The President and the Executive Branch" (1997). Congressional Quarterly. p. 87.
9. "Rates of Basic Pay for the Executive Schedule" (PDF). Office of Personnel Management. January 1, 2025. Retrieved January 5, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
10. Short 1923, pp. 55–56.
11. "An Act for establishing an Executive Department, to be denominated the Department of Foreign Affairs". GPO. July 27, 1789. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
12. "An Act to provide for the Safe-keeping of the Acts, Records, and Seal of the United States, and for other purposes". GPO. September 15, 1789. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
13. "Duties of the Secretary of State". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
14. Ford, Worthington C., ed. (1927). Statesman and Friend: Correspondence of John Adams with Benjamin Waterhouse, 1784–1822. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company. p. 57.
15. "Administrative Timeline of the Department of State – Department History – Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
16. "Duties of the Secretary of State of the United States". www.state.gov. United States Department of State. January 20, 2009. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
17. "3 U.S. Code § 20 – Resignation or refusal of office". LII / Legal Information Institute. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
18. "H.R.3212 – 113th Congress (2013–2014): Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2014". Congress.gov. August 8, 2014. Archived from the original on May 1, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
19. Stone, Andrea (August 12, 2014). "Why Do Secretaries of State Make Such Terrible Presidential Candidates?". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on September 18, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021.

Bibliography

• Short, Lloyd Milton (1923). The Development of National Administrative Organization in the United States, Issue 10. United States: Johns Hopkins Press. ISBN 0598686584.

Further reading

• Bemis, Samuel Flagg, ed. (1963) The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy (19 vols.), scholarly biographies
• Graebner, Norman A., ed. (1961) An Uncertain Tradition: American Secretaries of State in the Twentieth Century scholarly essays on John Hay through John Foster Dulles.
• Hopkins, Michael F. (2008) "President Harry Truman's Secretaries of State: Stettinius, Byrnes, Marshall and Acheson" Journal of Transatlantic Studies v.6 n.3 pp. 290–304.
• Mihalkanin, Edward, ed. (2004) online American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell short scholarly articles by experts

External links

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U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Ambassadors from the United States (while at their posts)	Order of precedence of the United States as Secretary of State	Succeeded by Ambassadors to the United States (in order of tenure)
Preceded by Otherwise Kamala Harris as Former Vice-President		Succeeded by Otherwise António Guterres as Secretary-General of the United Nations
U.S. presidential line of succession
Preceded by President pro tempore of the Senate Chuck Grassley	4th in line	Succeeded by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent