Spokesperson for the United States Department of State

The Spokesperson for the United States Department of State is a U.S. government official whose primary responsibility is to serve as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State and the U.S. government's foreign policies. The position is located in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs.[1]

Spokesperson for the
United States Department of State
Seal of the United States Department of State
since April 24, 2023
AppointerThe Secretary of State
WebsiteOfficial website

Historically, the State Department Spokesperson and the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs were synonymous names for the same role. However, this has not been the case since Philip J. Crowley's tenure ended in 2011.[2] Since 2011, the Assistant Secretary and the State Department Spokesperson have been two separate roles held by different people.[3] In late 2015, the two roles were once again merged with the appointment of Spokesperson John Kirby as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.[4]

Responsibilities

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The State Department spokesperson is responsible for communicating the foreign policy of the United States to American and foreign media, typically in a daily press briefing. The daily press briefing typically includes a summary of the secretary of state's schedule, any upcoming trips by the secretary, the president of the United States, or other distinguished State Department officials including under secretaries and assistant secretaries, and official reactions and positions of the U.S. government on certain news of the day, followed by Q&A with journalists attending the briefing. A tradition that began during the tenure of John Foster Dulles as secretary of state in the 1950s,[5] the daily press briefing is on-the-record, and is recorded and made available on the State Department's website.

The State Department spokesperson will also often accompany the secretary of state on travel to assist with press conferences.

List of State Department spokespeople

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# Spokesperson Tenure President Secretary of State
1 Michael J. McDermott[6] 1927–1945 Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman
Frank B. Kellogg, Henry L. Stimson,
Cordell Hull, Edward Stettinius, Jr.
2   Roger Tubby[7] 1945–1948 Harry S. Truman James F. Byrnes, George C. Marshall
3 Lincoln White[8] 1955–1963 Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy John Foster Dulles, Christian Herter,
Dean Rusk
4   Robert J. McCloskey[9] 1964–1973 Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon Dean Rusk, William P. Rogers
5 Carl E. Bartch[10] 1966–1970
6 Robert Anderson[11] 1974–1976 Gerald Ford Henry Kissinger
7   Hodding Carter III[12] 1977–1980 Jimmy Carter Cyrus Vance
8   William J. Dyess[13] 1980–1981 Edmund Muskie
9   Dean E. Fischer[14] 1981–1982 Ronald Reagan Alexander Haig
10   Robert John Hughes[15] 1982–1985 George P. Shultz
11   Bernard Kalb[16] 1985–1986
12   Charles Edgar Redman[17] 1986–1989
13   Margaret D. Tutwiler[18] 1989–1992 George H. W. Bush James Baker
14   Richard Boucher[19] 1992–1993 Lawrence Eagleburger
15   Mike McCurry[20] 1993–1995 Bill Clinton Warren Christopher
16   R. Nicholas Burns[21] 1995–1997
17   James Rubin[22] 1997–2000 Madeleine Albright
18   Richard Boucher[19] 2001–2005 George W. Bush Colin Powell
19   Sean McCormack[23] 2005–2009 Condoleezza Rice
20   Ian C. Kelly 2009–2010 Barack Obama Hillary Clinton
21   Philip J. Crowley 2010–2011
22   Victoria Nuland 2011–2013
23   Jen Psaki 2013–2015 John Kerry
24   Marie Harf 2015
25   John Kirby 2015–2017
26   Mark Toner 2017 Donald Trump Rex Tillerson
27   Heather Nauert[24] 2017–2019 Rex Tillerson, Mike Pompeo
28   Morgan Ortagus 2019–2021 Mike Pompeo
29   Ned Price 2021–2023 Joe Biden Antony Blinken
30   Matthew Miller 2023–present

References

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  1. ^ "Bureau of Public Affairs: Senior Official Biographies". U.S. Department of State. October 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  2. ^ "Victoria Nuland to be State Department spokesman". Foreign Policy. May 16, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  3. ^ "Biographies for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy: Senior Officials". August 10, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  4. ^ "John Kirby". U.S. Department of State. December 11, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  5. ^ "In first month of Trump presidency, State Department has been sidelined". Washington Post. February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  6. ^ Gleijeses, Piero (1991). Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944–1954. Princeton University Press.
  7. ^ Neal, Steve (2003). HST: Memories of the Truman Years. Southern Illinois University Press.
  8. ^ "Lincoln White is Dead at 77; U.S. Spokesman in Cold War". The New York Times. April 28, 1983. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  9. ^ "Robert J. McCloskey, State Dept. Spokesman, Dies at 74". The New York Times. November 30, 1996. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  10. ^ "Carl E. Bartch Dies at 78". Washington Post. October 2, 1989. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  11. ^ "Robert Anderson Papers". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  12. ^ "William Hodding Carter III (1935–)". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  13. ^ "William Jennings Dyess (1929–1966)". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  14. ^ "Dean E. Fischer (1936–)". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  15. ^ "(Robert) John Hughes (1930–)". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  16. ^ "Bernard Kalb: From NBC to the State Department". Brookings Institution. October 2, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  17. ^ "Charles Edgar Redman (1943–)". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  18. ^ "Margaret Debardeleben Tutwiler (1950–)". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  19. ^ a b "Richard A. Boucher". U.S. Department of State. February 21, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  20. ^ "And the good news is...: A conversation with former White House Press Secretaries Dana Perino and Mike McCurry". American Enterprise Institute. April 23, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  21. ^ "Nicholas Burns". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  22. ^ "James Rubin". Washington Speakers Bureau. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  23. ^ "Department Spokesman Sean McCormack". U.S. Department of State. July 18, 2005. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  24. ^ "Department Press Briefing - April 27, 2017". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
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