List of ambassadors of the United States to Austria: Difference between revisions

# Image Name Title Appointed Presented credentials Terminated mission Notes 1 Henry A. P. Muhlenberg Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary February 8, 1838 November 7, 1838 Left post, September 18, 1840 2 Daniel Jenifer Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary August 27, 1841 March 30, 1842 Presented recall, June 28–July 7, 1845 From 1845 until 1854 there was no U.S. minister present. The U.S. was represented by a succession of chargés d’affaires. – William H. Stiles^[2] Chargé d’affaires April 19, 1845 August 5, 1845 Left post, August 1, 1849 – James Watson Webb^[3] Chargé d’affaires November 1, 1849 February 6, 1850 Left post, May 8, 1850 – Charles J. McCurdy Chargé d’affaires September 27, 1850 March 14, 1851 October 12, 1852 – Thomas M. Foote Chargé d’affaires September 16, 1852 December 14, 1852 Presented recall, June 25, 1853 – Henry R. Jackson^[5][6] Chargé d’affaires May 24, 1853 September 16, 1853 Promoted to Minister Resident 3 Minister Resident June 29, 1854 September 28, 1854 on or after June 1, 1858 4 J. Glancy Jones Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary December 15, 1858 February 14, 1859 Presented recall, November 14, 1861 5 J. Lothrop Motley^[7] Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary August 10, 1861 November 14, 1861 June 14, 1867 President Andrew Johnson nominated eight men to be ambassador to Austria, but the Senate rejected or declined to consider them, most likely because of the President’s disputes with the Congress over other issues. 6 Henry M. Watts Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary July 25, 1868 September 25, 1868 Presented recall, June 1, 1869 7 John Jay II Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 1869 June 1, 1869 Presented recall, March 31, 1875 Ambassadors after 1869 were commissioned to Austria-Hungary. 8 Godlove S. Orth Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary March 9, 1875 May 24, 1875 Relinquished charge, March 10, 1876 9 Edward F. Beale Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary June 1, 1876 August 10, 1876 Left post, April 20, 1877 10 John A. Kasson^[8] Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 11, 1877 August 30, 1877 Presented recall, March 25, 1881 11 William Walter Phelps Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary May 5, 1881 June 20, 1881 Superseded June 30, 1882 12 Alphonso Taft Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary April 26, 1882 June 30, 1882 Left post, August 25, 1884 13 John M. Francis Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary July 4, 1884 September 11, 1884 Presented recall, August 3, 1885 14 Alexander R. Lawton^[9] Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary April 15, 1887 August 25, 1887 May 15, 1889 15 Frederick D. Grant Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary March 23, 1889 May 15, 1889 Presented recall, June 8, 1893 16 Bartlett Tripp Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary April 6, 1893 June 8, 1893 Presented recall, June 18, 1897 17 Charlemagne Tower Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary April 1, 1897 June 18, 1897 Had farewell audience, February 9, 1899 18 Addison C. Harris Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary January 12, 1899 April 13, 1899 Presented recall, April 29, 1901 19 Robert S. McCormick^[10] Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary March 7, 1901 April 29, 1901 Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary From 1902 to 1917 ambassadors to Austria bore the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. 19 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary May 27, 1902 June 26, 1902 Presented recall, December 29, 1902 20 Bellamy Storer^[11] Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary September 26, 1902 January 3, 1903 Left post, February 8, 1906 21 Charles Spencer Francis Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 22, 1906 May 29, 1906 Presented recall, April 1, 1910 22 Richard C. Kerens Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary December 21, 1909 April 12, 1910 Left post, June 28, 1913 23 Frederic Courtland Penfield – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary July 28, 1913 September 26, 1913 Left post, April 7, 1917 The United States declared war on Germany April 6, 1917. Ambassador Penfield departed Austria the following day, April 7. Austria-Hungary severed diplomatic relations with the United States on April 9. Joseph C. Grew was serving as Chargé d’affaires ad interim when Austria-Hungary severed relations. Although a date is not recorded, the embassy would have been closed almost immediately and all diplomatic personnel would have departed or been expelled. Normal diplomatic relations were resumed in 1921. – Arthur Hugh Frazier – Career FSO Chargé d’affaires pro tem^[12] Not commissioned^[13] November 25, 1921 Left post, May 21, 1922 After resumption of diplomatic relations, the embassy was downgraded to a legation and the title of the chief of mission was downgraded to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary and remained as such until 1952. 24 Albert Henry Washburn – Political appointee Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary February 10, 1922 June 19, 1922 Died at post, April 29, 1930 25 Gilchrist Baker Stockton – Political appointee Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary January 22, 1930 May 15, 1930 Left post, September 21, 1933 26 George Howard Earle III^[14] – Political appointee Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary July 24, 1933 September 27, 1933 Left post, March 25, 1934 27 George S. Messersmith – Career FSO Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary April 7, 1934 May 23, 1934 Left post, July 11, 1937 28 Grenville T. Emmet – Political appointee Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary July 13, 1937 September 14, 1937 Died at post, September 26, 1937 John C. Wiley was serving as Chargé d’affaires ad interim when Austria was annexed to Germany, March 13, 1938; he closed the legation in Vienna, April 30, 1938. Diplomatic relations with Austria were broken during World War II but resumed in 1946. 29 John G. Erhardt – Career FSO Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary August 3, 1946 September 7, 1946 Left post, June 27, 1950 30 Walter J. Donnelly^[15][16] – Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary September 20, 1950 October 25, 1950 Left post, July 19, 1952 In 1951 the legation in Vienna was upgraded to an embassy and the chief of mission gained the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. 31 Llewellyn E. Thompson, Jr.^[17] – Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary July 17, 1952 September 4, 1952 July 9, 1957 32 H. Freeman Matthews – Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary August 5, 1957 September 4, 1957 Left post, May 25, 1962 33 James Williams Riddleberger – Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary October 23, 1962 December 12, 1962 Left post, May 10, 1967 34 Douglas MacArthur II – Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary April 5, 1967 May 24, 1967 Left post, September 16, 1969 35 John P. Humes – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary September 26, 1969 October 29, 1969 Left post, March 6, 1975 36 Wiley T. Buchanan, Jr. – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 25, 1975 April 2, 1975 Left post, March 31, 1977 37 Milton A. Wolf – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary June 23, 1977 September 5, 1977 Left post, March 2, 1980 38 Philip M. Kaiser – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary February 19, 1980 March 25, 1980 Left post, March 2, 1981 39 Theodore E. Cummings^[18] – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary June 20, 1981 September 2, 1981 Died March 30, 1982 40 Helene A. von Damm – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary May 10, 1983 June 22, 1983 January 15, 1986 41 Ronald S. Lauder^[19] – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary April 16, 1986 May 7, 1986 October 27, 1987 42 Henry Anatole Grunwald^[19] – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary December 23, 1987 January 20, 1988 January 1, 1990 43 Roy M. Huffington – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary August 6, 1990 September 11, 1990 March 1, 1993 44 Swanee Grace Hunt – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 4, 1993 December 16, 1993 October 18, 1997 45 Kathryn Walt Hall – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 19, 1997 December 11, 1997 July 10, 2001 46 Lyons Brown, Jr. – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 5, 2001 December 19, 2001 October 5, 2005 47 Susan Rasinski McCaw – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 2, 2005 January 9, 2006 November 25, 2007 48 David F. Girard-diCarlo – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary July 1, 2008 September 10, 2008 January 20, 2009^[20] 49 William Eacho – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary August 12, 2009^[21] September 14, 2009 August 3, 2013 50 Alexa L. Wesner – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary September 6, 2013 October 22, 2013 January 20, 2017 – Eugene S. Young – Career FSO^[22] Chargé d’affaires a.i. January 20, 2017 May 24, 2018 51 Trevor Traina – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 28, 2018 May 24, 2018 January 20, 2021 – Robin Dunnigan – Career FSO^[23] Chargé d’affaires a.i. January 20, 2021 July 12, 2021 – Mario Mesquita – Career FSO^[24] Chargé d’affaires a.i. July 12, 2021 January 12, 2022 52 Victoria Reggie Kennedy – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 16, 2021 January 12, 2022 January 20, 2025 – Kami A. Witmer – Career FSO Chargé d’affaires a.i. January 20, 2025 November 11, 2025 53 Arthur Fisher – Political appointee Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary October 7, 2025 November 19, 2025 Incumbent