The nation of Yugoslavia was formed on December 1, 1918 as a result of the realignment of nations and national boundaries in Europe in the aftermath of World War I. The nation was first named the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The kingdom occupied the area in the Balkans comprising the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, and most of present-day Slovenia and Croatia. The United States recognized the newly formed nation and commissioned its first envoy to the kingdom on July 17, 1919. Previously the USA had had an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary who was commissioned to Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia while resident in Bucharest, Romania. Towards the end of the 1930s, the diplomatic relations between Belgrade and Washington were raised from ministerial to the ambassadorial level.
At the beginning of World War II, the government of Yugoslavia fled Belgrade and formed a government in exile in London and later in Cairo. During that time the U.S. ambassadors continued to represent the United States in London and Cairo. The embassy was transferred back to Belgrade in 1945.
Between 1943 and 1992 the nation was known by various names, including the Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (1943), the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1946), and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963).
After the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, the remnants of the nation, comprising the Republics of Serbia and Montenegro, renamed itself the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On May 21, 1992, the United States announced that it did not recognize the Federal Republic. The ambassador had left Belgrade one week earlier. A series of chargés d’affaires represented the U.S. government until 1999, when the embassy was closed.
In 2001 the United States recognized the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commissioned an ambassador to Belgrade.
In 2003 the parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ratified the Constitutional Charter, establishing a new state union and changing the name of the country from Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro. The U.S. ambassador continued in his post as the ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro.
For ambassadors to Serbia before and after Yugoslavia, see United States Ambassador to Serbia.
Henry Percival Dodge – Career FSO
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 17, 1919
Presented credentials: October 5, 1919
Terminated mission: Left post March 21, 1926
John Dyneley Prince – Political appointee
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: February 23, 1926
Presented credentials: May 5, 1926
Terminated mission: Left post August 31, 1932
Charles S. Wilson – Career FSO
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 3, 1933
Presented credentials: September 11, 1933
Terminated mission: July 28, 1937
Arthur Bliss Lane – Career FSO
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 9, 1937
Presented credentials: October 23, 1937
Terminated mission: Left post May 17, 1941
Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr. – Political appointee
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 30, 1941
Presented credentials: October 3, 1941
Terminated mission: Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary September 1942
Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr. – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: September 29, 1942
Presented credentials: November 3, 1942
Terminated mission: September 28, 1943
Lincoln MacVeagh – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 12, 1943
Presented credentials: December 9, 1943
Terminated mission: March 11, 1944
Richard C. Patterson, Jr. – Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: September 21, 1944
Presented credentials: November 17, 1944
Terminated mission: Left Belgrade October 25, 1946
Cavendish W. Cannon – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: April 10, 1947
Presented credentials: July 14, 1947
Terminated mission: October 19, 1949
George V. Allen – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: October 27, 1949
Presented credentials: January 25, 1950
Terminated mission: Left post March 11, 1953
James W. Riddleberger – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 31, 1953
Presented credentials: November 16, 1953
Terminated mission: Left post January 11, 1958
Karl L. Rankin – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: December 13, 1957
Presented credentials: February 19, 1958
Terminated mission: Left post April 22, 1961
George F. Kennan – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 7, 1961
Presented credentials: May 16, 1961
Terminated mission: Left Yugoslavia, July 28, 1963
Charles Burke Elbrick – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: January 29, 1964
Presented credentials: March 17, 1964
Terminated mission: Left post April 28, 1969
William Leonhart – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 1, 1969
Presented credentials: June 30, 1969
Terminated mission: Left post October 18, 1971
Malcolm Toon – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: October 7, 1971
Presented credentials: October 23, 1971
Terminated mission: Left post March 11, 1975
Laurence H. Silberman - Political appointee
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 8, 1975
Presented credentials: May 26, 1975
Terminated mission: Left post December 26, 1976
Lawrence S. Eagleburger – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: June 8, 1977
Presented credentials: June 21, 1977
Terminated mission: Left post January 24, 1981
David Anderson – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 27, 1981
Presented credentials: August 19, 1981
Terminated mission: Left post June 26, 1985
John Douglas Scanlan – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 12, 1985
Presented credentials: July 26, 1985
Terminated mission: Left post March 6, 1989
Warren Zimmermann – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 11, 1988
Presented credentials: March 21, 1989
Terminated mission: Recalled, May 12, 1992, left post May 16, 1992
Note: The United States announced on May 21, 1992, that it would not recognize the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising the Republics of Serbia and Montenegro, as the successor to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Note: The following officers served as chargés d’affaires ad interim in Belgrade: Robert Rackmales (May 1992–July 1993), Rudolf V. Perina (July 1993–Feb 1996), Lawrence Edward Butler (Feb-Aug 1996), Richard M. Miles (Aug 1996–Mar 1999). The embassy was closed March 23, 1999. Miles and the last Embassy personnel left March 24, and NATO armed forces began military action against Serbia-Montenegro that evening.
Note: The United States again recognized the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2001 and posted an ambassador to that nation.
William Dale Montgomery – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 26, 2001
Presented credentials: January 4, 2002
Terminated mission: February 29, 2004
Montgomery was the last ambassador to the nation known as Yugoslavia. Hereafter ambassadors in Belgrade were commissioned to Serbia and Montenegro and then to Serbia. For subsequent ambassadors in Belgrade, see United States Ambassador to Serbia.