| | |
|
President of the United States Ralph J. Totten
as Minister Resident/Consul General |
Before 1902, The southern part of Africa that is now South Africa was under the hegemony of Great Britain. There also were two self-proclaimed independent states: Transvaal (also known as the South African Republic) and the Orange Free State. The British and the Boers fought two wars known as the First Boer War (1880–1881) and the Second Boer War (1899–1902). After the second war, in which the British prevailed, the republics were incorporated into the British Empire. On May 31, 1910, the two ex-republics and the British colonies of the Cape and Natal formed the Union of South Africa, a self-governing dominion of the British Empire.
The United States appointed its first ambassador to South Africa, Ralph J. Totten, in 1929. He was appointed as Minister Resident/Consul General and promoted to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary the following year.
South Africa was renamed the Republic of South Africa on May 31, 1961 after links to the British crown were severed.
Note: The ambassadors were commissioned to the Union of South Africa until 1961 when South Africa became a republic.
Ralph J. Totten – Career FSOTitle: Minister Resident/Consul General
Appointed: December 19, 1929
Presented credentials: February 18, 1930
Terminated mission: June 20, 1930
Ralph J. Totten – Career FSOTitle: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: June 20, 1930
Presented credentials: September 8, 1930
Terminated mission: Left post April 12, 1937
Leo J. Keena – Career FSO
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 31, 1937
Presented credentials: October 22, 1937
Terminated mission: Left post August 13, 1942
Lincoln MacVeagh – Political appointee
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 21, 1942
Presented credentials: October 21, 1942
Terminated mission: Left post November 21, 1943
Thomas Holcomb – Political appointee
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 21, 1944
Presented credentials: June 14, 1944
Terminated mission: Left post May 30, 1948
North Winship – Career FSOTitle: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 24, 1948
Presented credentials: June 11, 1948
Terminated mission: March 2, 1949
Note: The title of the office was changed to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on March 2, 1949.
North Winship – Career FSOTitle: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 2, 1949
Presented credentials: March 23, 1949
Terminated mission: Left South Africa, December 20, 1949
John G. Erhardt – Career FSOTitle: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 23, 1950
Presented credentials: October 4, 1950
Terminated mission: Died at Cape Town, February 18, 1951
Waldemar J. Gallman – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 22, 1951
Presented credentials: October 18, 1951
Terminated mission: Left post August 15, 1954
Edward T. Wailes – Career FSOTitle: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: September 15, 1954
Presented credentials: November 29, 1954
Terminated mission: Left post August 11, 1956
Henry A. Byroade – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 26, 1956
Presented credentials: October 9, 1956
Terminated mission: Left post January 24, 1959
Philip K. Crowe – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: February 16, 1959
Presented credentials: April 22, 1959
Terminated mission: Left post April 6, 1961
Joseph C. Satterthwaite – Career FSOTitle: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: April 6, 1961
Presented credentials: May 22, 1961
Terminated mission: May 31, 1961
Note: South Africa became a republic on May 31, 1961. This required a new commission for the ambassador. Hereafter ambassadors were commissioned to the Republic of South Africa.
Joseph C. Satterthwaite – Career FSOTitle: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 31, 1961
Presented credentials: May 31, 1961
Terminated mission: Left post November 17, 1965
William M. Rountree – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: October 20, 1965
Presented credentials: January 8, 1966
Terminated mission: Left post June 5, 1970
John G. Hurd – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 24, 1970
Presented credentials: September 10, 1970
Terminated mission: Left post April 7, 1975
William G. Bowdler – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 17, 1975
Presented credentials: May 14, 1975
Terminated mission: Left post April 19, 1978
William B. Edmondson – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 3, 1978
Presented credentials: June 5, 1978
Terminated mission: Left post July 22, 1981
Herman W. Nickel – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 29, 1982
Presented credentials: April 20, 1982
Terminated mission: Left post October 4, 1986
Edward Joseph Perkins – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: October 16, 1986
Presented credentials: November 27, 1986
Terminated mission: Left post May 22, 1989
William Lacy Swing – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 7, 1989
Presented credentials: September 8, 1989
Terminated mission: Left post July 5, 1992
Princeton N. Lyman – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 14, 1992
Presented credentials: September 21, 1992
Terminated mission: Left post December 14, 1995
James A. Joseph – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: December 19, 1995
Presented credentials: February 27, 1996
Terminated mission: Left post November 7, 1999
Delano Lewis – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 16, 1999
Presented credentials: January 21, 2000
Terminated mission: Left post June 22, 2001
Cameron R. Hume – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 5, 2001
Presented credentials: November 29, 2001
Terminated mission: Left post July 28, 2004
Jendayi Elizabeth Frazer – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 25, 2004
Presented credentials: August 10, 2004
Terminated mission: Left post August 26, 2005
Eric M. Bost – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 20, 2006
Presented credentials: August 15, 2006
Terminated mission: January 20, 2009
Donald Gips - Political Appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 7, 2009
Presented credentials: October 1, 2009
Terminated Mission: unknown
Patrick Gaspard - Political Appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 26, 2013
Presented credentials: unknown
Terminated Mission: unknown
United States Ambassador to South Africa Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA