The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Mexico since 1823, when Andrew Jackson was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to that country. Jackson declined the appointment, however, and Joel R. Poinsett became the first U.S. envoy to Mexico in 1825. The rank of the U.S. chief of mission to Mexico was raised from Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in 1898.
Normal diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico have been interrupted on four occasions:
- From December 28, 1836, to July 7, 1839 (following the secession of Texas)
- From March 28, 1845 to October 2, 1848 (during the Mexican-American War)
- From June 21, 1858 to April 6, 1859 (during the War of the Reform)
- From March 18, 1913 to March 3, 1917 (during the Mexican Revolution; the U.S. embassy was closed on April 22, 1914 following the U.S. occupation of Veracruz). Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson was recalled after being implicated in a plot (La decena trágica) to overthrow President Francisco I. Madero. Rather than immediately formally appoint a new ambassador, Woodrow Wilson dispatched ex-Minnesota Governor John Lind as his personal envoy to handle Mexican diplomatic affairs.
In addition, the U.S. legation in Mexico was headed by an interim Chargé d'Affaires from April 1864 to August 1867, during the final years of the French Intervention.
List of Ambassadors
The following is a list of Ambassadors the United States has sent to Mexico, and other representatives that have served a similar function. The exact title given by the United States State Department to this position currently is "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary".
| Representative | Title | From | To | Appointed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Shaler | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1810 | 1812 | |
| John H. Robinson | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1812 | 1814 | |
| Joel Roberts Poinsett | Minister | 1825 | 1829 | |
| Anthony Butler | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1829 | ||
| Anthony Butler | Charge d'Affaires | 1829 | 1835 | |
| William A. Slacum | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1835 | 1836 | |
| Powhatan Ellis | Charge d'Affaires | 1836 | ||
| Robert Greenhow | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1837 | ||
| Powhatan Ellis | Minister | 1839 | 1842 | |
| Henry E. Lawrence | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1842 | ||
| Waddy Thompson, Jr. | Minister | 1842 | 1844 | |
| Moses Y. Beach | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1843 | ||
| Gilbert L. Thompson | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1844 | ||
| Wilson Shannon | Minister | 1844 | 1845 | |
| David Conner | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1846 | ||
| Nathan Clifford | Minister | 1848 | 1849 | |
| Robert P. Letcher | Minister | 1849 | 1852 | |
| Robert Greenhow | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1850 | ||
| George G. Goss | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1850 | 1852 | |
| George W. Slacum | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1851 | ||
| Edward Smith | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1852 | ||
| Alfred Conkling | Minister | 1852 | 1853 | |
| George E. Cooper | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1853 | ||
| Christopher L. Ward | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1853 | ||
| James Gadsden | Minister | 1853 | 1856 | |
| Richard S. Spofford | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1854 | ||
| John Forsyth Jr. | Minister | 1856 | 1858 | |
| William M. Churchwell | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1858 | ||
| Alfred Mordecai | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1858 | ||
| Duff Green | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1859 | ||
| David R. Porter | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1859 | ||
| Robert Milligan McLane | Minister | 1859 | 1860 | |
| Henry Roy de la Reintrie | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1860 | ||
| John B. Weller | Minister | 1860 | 1861 | |
| Thomas Corwin | Minister | 1861 | 1864 | |
| Robert W. Shufelt | Special Diplomatic Agent | 1862 | ||
| Lewis D. Campbell | Minister | 1866 | 1867 | |
| Marcus Otterbourg | Minister | 1867 | ||
| William S. Rosecrans | Minister | 1868 | 1869 | |
| Thomas H. Nelson | Minister | 1869 | 1873 | |
| John W. Foster | Minister | 1873 | 1880 | |
| Philip Hicky Morgan | Minister | 1880 | 1885 | |
| Henry R. Jackson | Minister | 1885 | 1886 | |
| Thomas Courtland Manning | Minister | 1886 | 1887 | |
| Edward S. Bragg | Minister | 1888 | 1889 | |
| Thomas Ryan | Minister | 1889 | 1893 | |
| Isaac P. Gray | Minister | 1893 | 1895 | |
| Matt W. Ransom | Minister | 1895 | 1897 | |
| Powell Clayton | Minister | 1897 | 1898 |
| Ambassador | Presentation of Credentials | Termination of Mission | Appointed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powell Clayton | 1899-01-03 | 1905-05-26 | William McKinley |
| Edwin H. Conger | 1905-06-15 | 1905-08-03 | Theodore Roosevelt |
| David Eugene Thompson | 1906-03-08 | 1909-12-01 | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Henry Lane Wilson | 1910-03-05 | 1913-02-18 | William Howard Taft |
| Henry P. Fletcher | 1917-03-03 | 1919-01-25 | Woodrow Wilson |
| Charles B. Warren | 1924-03-31 | 1924-07-22 | Calvin Coolidge |
| James R. Sheffield | 1924-10-15 | 1927-06-05 | Calvin Coolidge |
| Dwight W. Morrow | 1927-10-29 | 1930-09-17 | Calvin Coolidge |
| J. Reuben Clark, Jr. | 1930-11-28 | 1933-02-14 | Herbert Hoover |
| Josephus Daniels | 1933-04-24 | 1941-11-09 | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| George S. Messersmith | 1942-02-24 | 1946-05-15 | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Walter C. Thurston | 1946-06-17 | 1950-11-04 | Harry S. Truman |
| William O'Dwyer | 1950-11-23 | 1952-12-06 | Harry S. Truman |
| Francis White | 1953-04-28 | 1957-06-30 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Robert C. Hill | 1957-07-25 | 1960-12-01 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Thomas Clifton Mann | 1961-05-08 | 1963-12-22 | John F. Kennedy |
| Fulton Freeman | 1964-04-06 | 1969-01-06 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Robert H. McBride | 1969-07-22 | 1974-01-25 | Richard Nixon |
| Joseph John Jova | 1974-01-30 | 1977-02-21 | Richard Nixon |
| Patrick J. Lucey | 1977-07-19 | 1979-10-31 | Jimmy Carter |
| Julian Nava | 1980-05-07 | 1981-04-03 | Jimmy Carter |
| John A. Gavin | 1981-06-05 | 1986-06-10 | Ronald Reagan |
| Charles J. Pilliod, Jr. | 1986-11-04 | 1989-04-07 | Ronald Reagan |
| John D. Negroponte | 1989-07-03 | 1993-09-05 | George H. W. Bush |
| James Robert Jones | 1993-09-10 | 1997-06-25 | Bill Clinton |
| Jeffrey S. Davidow | 1998-08-05 | 2002-09-14 | Bill Clinton |
| Antonio Garza | 2002-11-22 | 2009-01-20 | George W. Bush |
| Carlos Pascual | 2009-10-21 | Incumbent | Barack Obama |
Source
- Ambassadors to Mexico - The official U.S. State Department list
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