List of ambassadors of the United States to Mexico

Ambassador of the United States to Mexico
Embajador de Estados Unidos en México
Seal of the United States Department of State
Incumbent
Ken Salazar
since September 14, 2021
NominatorThe President of the United States
AppointerThe President
with Senate advice and consent
Inaugural holderJoel Roberts Poinsett
as Minister
FormationJune 1, 1825
WebsiteU.S. Embassy - Mexico City

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:

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

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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."

Mexico achieved independence from Spain in 1821; so the first three men on this list were sent by President Madison during the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821). William Shaler participated in the 1812–13 Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition, which was a private military campaign to overthrow the Royalists and resulted in the roadside murder of two provincial governors and about a dozen other officials.

Image Representative Title From To Appointed by
Josh Zellers Special Diplomatic Agent 1810 1812 James Madison
John H. Robinson Special Diplomatic Agent 1812 1814
James Wilkinson U.S. Envoy 1816 1825
Joel Roberts Poinsett Minister 1825 1829 John Quincy Adams
Anthony Butler Special Diplomatic Agent 1829
Chargé d'Affaires 1829 1835 Andrew Jackson
William A. Slacum Special Diplomatic Agent 1835 1836
Powhatan Ellis Chargé d'Affaires 1836
Robert Greenhow Special Diplomatic Agent 1837
Powhatan Ellis Minister 1839 1842 Martin Van Buren
Henry E. Lawrence Special Diplomatic Agent 1842 John Tyler
Waddy Thompson Jr. Minister 1842 1844
Moses Yale Beach Special Diplomatic Agent 1843
Gilbert L. Thompson Special Diplomatic Agent 1844
Wilson Shannon Minister 1844 1845
John Slidell Minister 1845 James K. Polk
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 Millard Fillmore
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 Franklin Pierce
John Forsyth Jr. Minister 1856 1858
William M. Churchwell Special Diplomatic Agent 1858 James Buchanan
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 Abraham Lincoln
Lewis D. Campbell Minister 1866 1867 Andrew Johnson
Marcus Otterbourg Minister 1867
William S. Rosecrans Minister 1868 1869
Thomas H. Nelson Minister 1869 1873
John W. Foster Minister 1873 1880 Ulysses S. Grant
Philip Hicky Morgan Minister 1880 1885 Rutherford B. Hayes
Henry R. Jackson Minister 1885 1886
Thomas Courtland Manning Minister 1886 1887 Grover Cleveland
Edward S. Bragg Minister 1888 1889
Thomas Ryan Minister 1889 1893
Isaac P. Gray Minister 1893 1895
Matt Whitaker Ransom Minister 1895 1897 Grover Cleveland
Powell Clayton Minister 1897 1898
Image Ambassador Presentation Termination Appointed by
Powell Clayton January 3, 1899 May 26, 1905 William McKinley
Edwin H. Conger June 15, 1905 August 3, 1905 Theodore Roosevelt
David Eugene Thompson March 8, 1906 December 1, 1909
Henry Lane Wilson March 5, 1910 February 18, 1913 William Howard Taft
Henry P. Fletcher March 3, 1917 January 25, 1919 Woodrow Wilson
Charles B. Warren March 31, 1924 July 22, 1924 Calvin Coolidge
James R. Sheffield October 15, 1924 June 5, 1927
Dwight Morrow October 29, 1927 September 17, 1930
J. Reuben Clark November 28, 1930 February 14, 1933 Herbert Hoover
Josephus Daniels April 24, 1933 November 9, 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt
George S. Messersmith February 24, 1942 May 15, 1946
Walter C. Thurston June 17, 1946 November 4, 1950 Harry S. Truman
William O'Dwyer November 23, 1950 December 6, 1952
Francis White April 28, 1953 June 30, 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Robert C. Hill July 25, 1957 December 1, 1960
Thomas C. Mann May 8, 1961 December 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy
Fulton Freeman April 6, 1964 January 6, 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson
Robert H. McBride July 22, 1969 January 25, 1974 Richard Nixon
Joseph J. Jova January 30, 1974 February 21, 1977
Patrick J. Lucey July 19, 1977 October 31, 1979 Jimmy Carter
Julian Nava May 7, 1980 April 3, 1981
John Gavin June 5, 1981 June 10, 1986 Ronald Reagan
Charles J. Pilliod Jr. November 4, 1986 April 7, 1989
John Negroponte July 3, 1989 September 5, 1993 George H. W. Bush
James R. Jones September 10, 1993 June 25, 1997 Bill Clinton
Jeffrey Davidow August 5, 1998 September 14, 2002
Tony Garza November 22, 2002 January 20, 2009 George W. Bush
Carlos Pascual August 9, 2009 March 19, 2011 Barack Obama
Earl Anthony Wayne August 2, 2011 July 31, 2015
Roberta S. Jacobson June 20, 2016 May 5, 2018
Christopher Landau August 26, 2019 January 20, 2021 Donald Trump
Ken Salazar September 14, 2021 present Joe Biden

See also

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References

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  • United States Department of State: Background notes on Mexico
  • Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.
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