List of Secretaries of State of the United States

This is a list of secretaries of state of the United States.
Secretaries of foreign affairs (1781–1789).
On January 10, 1780, the Confederation Congress created the Department of Foreign Affairs.
On August 10, 1781, Congress put Robert R. Livingston as the first Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Livingston was not able able to go into office until October 20, 1781. He was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs until June 4, 1783. He was succeeded by John Jay on December 21, 1784. He served who served until March 4, 1789. Jay stopped being the Secretary of foreign affairs, when the government went from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution.
John Jay was the Secretary of State until Thomas Jefferson came back from France.
Secretaries of state.
On September 15, 1789, Washington made a law that changed the name of the office from Secretary of Foreign Affairs to Secretary of State and he changed the name of the department to the Department of State. He also added many powers and responsibilities to the secretary and the department. Thomas Jefferson was the first Secretary of State on March 22, 1790.
List of secretaries of state by time in office.
This is a list of United States secretaries of state by time in office. This is based on the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater. Cordell Hull is the only person to have served as Secretary of State for more than eight years. Daniel Webster and James G. Blaine are the only secretaries of state to have ever served non-consecutive terms. Warren Christopher served very briefly as Acting Secretary of State non-consecutively with his later tenure as full-fledged Secretary of State. Elihu B. Washburne served as Secretary of State for less than two weeks before becoming Ambassador to France.
Living former secretaries of state.
As of , there are eight living former secretaries of state, the oldest being Henry Kissinger (served 1973–1977). The most recent death of a former secretary of state was that of Madeleine Albright (served 1997–2001) on March 23, 2022. The living former secretaries of state, in order of service, are: