United States Ambassador to Denmark

Ambassador of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Denmark

Incumbent
Rufus Gifford
since August 15, 2013
U.S. Department of State
Embassy of the United States, Copenhagen
Style His Excellency (formal)
Mr. Ambassador (informal)
Reports to U.S. Secretary of State
Residence Rydhave
Seat Copenhagen, Denmark
Nominator The President
Appointer The President
with the advice and consent of the Senate
Term length At the pleasure of the President
No fixed term
Inaugural holder Henry Wheaton
as Chargé d’Affaires
Formation March 3, 1827
Website U.S. Embassy - Copenhagen

The first representative from the United States to Denmark was appointed in 1827 as a Chargé d'Affaires. There followed a series of chargés and ministers until 1890 when the first full ambassador (Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary) was appointed. The title was changed to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in 1946. The Ambassador's offices are housed within the Embassy of the United States, Copenhagen.

List of Ambassadors

U.S. diplomatic terms

Career FSO
After 1915, The United States Department of State began classifying ambassadors as career Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) for those who have served in the Foreign Service for a specified amount of time.

Political appointee
A person who is not a career foreign service officer, but is appointed by the president (often as a reward to political friends).

Appointed
The date that the ambassador took the oath of office; also known as “commissioning”. It follows confirmation of a presidential appointment by the Senate, or a Congressional-recess appointment by the president. In the case of a recess appointment, the ambassador requires subsequent confirmation by the Senate.

Presented credentials
The date that the ambassador presented his letter of credence to the head of state or appropriate authority of the receiving nation. At this time the ambassador officially becomes the representative of his country. This would normally occur a short time after the ambassador’s arrival on station. The host nation may reject the ambassador by not receiving the ambassador’s letter, but this occurs only rarely.

Terminated mission
Usually the date that the ambassador left the country. In some cases a letter of recall is presented, ending the ambassador’s commission, either as a means of diplomatic protest or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and replaced by another envoy.

Chargé d'affaires
The person in charge of the business of the embassy when there is no ambassador commissioned to the host country. See chargé d'affaires.

Ad interim
Latin phrase meaning "for the time being", "in the meantime". See ad interim.
Rydhave, the residence of the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen

Chargé d'Affaires (1827-1854)

NamePortraitAppointedPresented CredentialsTerminated Mission
Henry Wheaton March 3, 1827 September 20, 1827 Presented recall on or shortly before May 29, 1835
Jonathan F. Woodside March 3, 1835 September 1, 1835 Paid farewell calls on June 29, 1841
Isaac Rand Jackson May 20, 1841[1] October 12, 1841 July 27, 1842 †
William W. Irwin March 3, 1843 June 19, 1847 Presented recall on June 12, 1847
Robert P. Flenniken January 11, 1847 June 12, 1847 Presented recall on September 15, 1849
Walter Forward October 8, 1850[2] June 15, 1850 Recalled on September 10, 1851[3]
Andrew J. Ogle January 22, 1852[4]
Miller Grieve August 30, 1852 December 15, 1852 Left post on or after June 23, 1853
Henry Bedinger May 24, 1853[5] October 13, 1853 Promoted to Minister Resident on September 23, 1854

Minister Resident (1854-1876)

NamePortraitAppointedPresented CredentialsTerminated Mission
Henry Bedinger May 29, 1854[6] September 23, 1854 Presented recall on August 10, 1858
James M.Buchanan May 11, 1858 August 10, 1854 Presented recall on May 10, 1861
Bradford R. Wood March 22, 1861 August 18, 1861 Presented recall on November 15, 1865
Samuel J. Kirkwood March 11, 1863[7]
George H. Yeaman August 25, 1865[8] November 20, 1865 Presented recall on November 7, 1870
Christopher Columbus Andrews April 16, 1869[9]
Michael J. Cramer September 9, 1870[10] November 7, 1870 Presented recall on October 2, 1876

Chargé d'Affaires (1876-1882)

NamePortraitAppointedPresented CredentialsTerminated Mission
Michael J. Cramer August 15, 1876 October 2, 1876 Presented recall on August 12, 1881
Adam Badeau N/A[11]
Charles Payson July 30, 1881[12] August 12, 1881 Left post on January 23, 1882
J. P. Wickersham May 1, 1882 June 13, 1882 Promoted to Minister Resident/Consul General August 21, 1882

Minister Resident/Consul General (1882-1890)

NamePortraitAppointedPresented CredentialsTerminated Mission
J. P. Wickersham July 13, 1882 August 21, 1882 Notified the Government of Denmark from in Paris September 8, 1882
Wickham Hoffman February 27, 1883 May 4, 1883 Presented recall on June 1, 1885
Rasmus B. Anderson April 2, 1885 May 1, 1885 Presented recall on August 28, 1889
John A. Enander March 13, 1889[13]
Clark E. Carr May 16, 1889[14] August 28, 1889 Promoted to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary on July 30, 1890

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (1890-1947)

NamePortraitAppointedPresented CredentialsTerminated Mission
Clark E. Carr July 30, 1890 September 22, 1890 Presented recall on July 14, 1893
John E. Risley March 27, 1893 July 14, 1890 Presented recall on December 11, 1897
Laurits S. Swenson October 4, 1897[15] December 11, 1897 Presented recall on May 27, 1905
Maurice Francis Egan
Political appointee		 [16] June 10, 1907 Presented recall on September 6, 1907. Left post on December 16, 1917.

Ulysses Grant-Smith served as Chargé d'Affaires until Hapgood's appointment.

Norman Hapgood
Political appointee		 April 16, 1919[17] June 17, 1919 Left post on December 9, 1919
Joseph C. Grew
Career FSO		 April 7, 1920 June 9, 1920 Left post on October 14, 1921
John Dyneley Prince
Political appointee		 August 24, 1921 November 23, 1921 Presented recall on March 30, 1926
Henry Percival Dodge
Career FSO		 February 23, 1926 August 24, 1926 Left post on March 1, 1930
Ralph H. Booth
Political appointee		 January 22, 1930 June 13, 1930 Relinquished charge on May 11, 1931
Frederick W. B. Coleman
Political appointee		 September 23, 1931[18] February 10, 1932 Appointment terminated on May 1, 1933
Ruth Bryan Owen
Political appointee		 April 13, 1933[19] May 29, 1933 Left post on June 27, 1936
Alvin Mansfield Owsley
Political appointee		 May 28, 1937 June 16, 1937 Left post on May 15, 1939
Ray Atherton
Career FSO		 August 7, 1939 September 8, 1939 Left post on June 5, 1940[20][21]
Monnett B. Davis
Career FSO		 June 8, 1945 June 21, 1945[22] Left post on January 10, 1946
Josiah Marvel, Jr.
Political appointee		 March 13, 1946 April 23, 1946 Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on February 27, 1947

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (1947-)

NamePortraitAppointedPresented CredentialsTerminated Mission
Josiah Marvel, Jr.
Political appointee		 February 27, 1947 March 18, 1947 Left post on March 4, 1949
Eugenie Anderson
Political appointee		 October 20, 1949 December 22, 1949 Left post on January 19, 1953
Robert D. Coe
Career FSO		 July 29, 1953 September 25, 1953 Relinquished charge on June 1, 1957
Val Peterson
Political appointee		 June 26, 1957 August 22, 1957 Left post on February 21, 1961
William McCormick Blair, Jr.
Political appointee		 March 29, 1961 May 9, 1961 Left post on May 17, 1964
Katharine Elkus White
Political appointee		 April 8, 1964 June 2, 1964 Left post on September 9, 1968
Angier Biddle Duke
Political appointee		 September 26, 1968 October 3, 1968 Left post on May 1, 1969
Guilford Dudley Jr.
Political appointee		 May 13, 1969 June 18, 1969 Left post on November 2, 1971
Fred J. Russell
Political appointee		 November 5, 1971 December 9, 1971 Left post on November 4, 1972
Philip K. Crowe
Political appointee		 July 16, 1973 September 13, 1973 Left post on September 27, 1975
John Gunther Dean
Career FSO		 October 23, 1975 November 6, 1975 Left post on July 18, 1978
Warren Demian Manshel
Political appointee		 June 22, 1978 July 31, 1978 Left post on March 6, 1981
John Langeloth Loeb, Jr.
Political appointee		 July 30, 1981 October 13, 1981 Left post on September 13, 1983
Terence A. Todman
Career FSO		 October 3, 1983 November 17, 1983 Left post on January 8, 1989
Keith Lapham Brown
Political appointee		 November 2, 1988[23] January 8, 1989 Left post on January 16, 1992
Richard B. Stone
Political appointee		 November 21, 1991 February 10, 1992 Left post on October 14, 1993
Edward Elliott Elson
Political appointee		 November 22, 1993 January 18, 1994 Left post on June 25, 1998
Richard Swett
Political appointee		 June 29, 1998 September 8, 1998 Left post on July 6, 2001
Stuart A. Bernstein
Political appointee		 August 3, 2001 September 3, 2001 Left post on January 16, 2005
James Cain
Political appointee		 August 2, 2005 September 9, 2005 Left post on January 23, 2009
Laurie S. Fulton
Political appointee		 July 15, 2009 August 3, 2009 Left post on February 15, 2013
Rufus Gifford
Political appointee		 July 15, 2013 August 13, 2013 Incumbent

Notes

  1. ↑ Jackson was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on June 29, 1841.
  2. ↑ Forward was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on February 19, 1850.
  3. ↑ No record has been found of presentation of letter of recall or departure from post.
  4. ↑ Ogle did not proceed to his post. (Presumably due to illness. He died later in the year.)
  5. ↑ Bedinger was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on February 8, 1854.
  6. ↑ Bedinger was nominated on February 25, 1856, to be Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary but the nomination withdrawn before the Senate acted upon it.
  7. ↑ Kirkwood declined the appointment.
  8. ↑ Yeaman was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on January 22, 1866.
  9. ↑ Andrews took the oath of office, but did not proceed to his post.
  10. ↑ Camer was commissioned during a recess of the Senateand recommissioned after confirmation on February 4, 1871.
  11. ↑ Badeau’s nomination was withdrawn before the Senate acted upon it.
  12. ↑ Payson was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after Senate confirmation on October 29, 1881.
  13. ↑ Enander took the oath of office but did not proceed to his post.
  14. ↑ Carr was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on January 9, 1890.
  15. ↑ Swenson was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation by the Senate on December 18, 1897.
  16. ↑ Egan was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on December 12, 1907.
  17. ↑ Hapgood was commissioned during a recess of the Senate.
  18. ↑ Coleman was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on December 17, 1931.
  19. ↑ A commission of the same date as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Denmark and Iceland was canceled.
  20. ↑ German forces occupied Copenhagen, April 9, 1940
  21. ↑ Atherton was still holding office as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Denmark when he was recommissioned as such on July 8, 1943, in connection with additional appointments as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Canada and Luxembourg, resident at Ottawa. R. Borden Reams was serving as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim when the legation in Copenhagen was closed, December 20, 1941.
  22. ↑ The mission at Copenhagen was reopened as a legation June 16, 1945, with Minister Davis in charge pending presentation of his letter of credence.
  23. ↑ Brown was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on August 3, 1989.

See also

References

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