The President’s Cabinet: Our nation’s State Department — a brief history
This is the third in a series of articles on the President’s Cabinet. With the advent of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), it might be time to review the departments that support the President’s ongoing responsibilities to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare of our citizens.
In 1785 the United States had only three true diplomats/ambassadors — 81-year-old Pennsylvanian Ben Franklin, Massachusetts native John Adams, and Virginian Thomas Jefferson. Two would later be president. The other was one of the recognized geniuses of the Western world.
All were products of the Enlightenment, particularly Jefferson, who is aptly called America’s Renaissance Man. Franklin returned home to live his last days on American soil. Adams was assigned to Great Britain as the country’s ambassador to the Court of St. James. Jefferson had just arrived in France. The U.S. had just won our freedom from Great Britain and wanted to solidify our relations with both nations.
At that time, we had no constitution and no president. Our loose Confederation had a Congress that voted to send the three men abroad as ambassadors. Adams had his hands full just keeping an eye on Britain, having assured King George III that he had no bias toward France — only to his own country.
Jefferson reported to them about the developments of Louis XVI’s court, the decline of the king’s powers, and on Europe in general. Jefferson conducted business from his salon on the Champs-Élysées and traveled throughout France and the rest of the continent while gaining the admiration of the French revolutionaries and other European leaders.
In 1789, the French Revolution began in earnest and the constitution of the United States was ratified. After George Washington was elected president, he asked Jefferson to return to Philadelphia as secretary of state to head up what was to be called the State Department. It was the first Cabinet position he filled.
Jefferson’s staff consisted of five civil servants — a head clerk, two additional clerks, a messenger, and an interpreter. Although Jefferson was fluent in French, Latin, Greek, Italian, and Spanish, he needed an additional interpreter to help him with the workload, which was always written in French — the language of diplomacy. All swore loyalty to the Constitution — not to the president.
Today’s State Department is headquartered at Foggy Bottom in Washington, D.C., very near the Kennedy Center and the infamous Watergate Hotel and office building. Its main Truman Building houses over 8,000 experts in foreign affairs. They, and the additional thousands of employees located throughout the world and our country at embassies and consulates, comprise the finest diplomatic corps in the world. We have over 270 locations to staff — all traditionally protected by a detachment of U.S. Marines. There is a consulate in Chicago at 77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Because we now have over 344 million Americans and have assumed a lead role in the world, we have expanded the State Department to meet its mission, which is twofold — to represent American policy abroad and to advance the security interests of the American people. To do this, the department helps to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world that responds to the needs of people to reduce widespread poverty and act responsibly within the international system. It’s a big job requiring highly trained and dedicated civil servants.
The current complicated organization of the State Department is overseen by deputy and assistant secretaries of state in the areas of political affairs; economic growth; energy and environment; arms control and international security; public diplomacy and public affairs; management of the department resources, including the issuance of all passports and other official documents; civilian security; and human rights.
The secretary also works closely with our ambassador to the United Nations, which is another cabinet post. All employees are required to swear allegiance to the Constitution — not to the secretary or the president.
Being the first Cabinet position to be approved by Congress in September of 1789, the secretary of state is fourth in line for the presidency if the president were to die in office or be impeached by the House and removed by the Senate. The other three are the vice president, the speaker of the House, and the president pro tempore of the Senate.
Thomas Jefferson set a high bar for the job of Secretary of State. Several other prominent secretaries from the past are James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, and James Buchanan — all became president. Others include William Seward (Alaska Purchase), George C. Marshall (the Marshall Plan), Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Antony Blinken. Our current Secretary of State is Marco Rubio (former Senator from Florida).
Next up: the Department of the Treasury.
About this series
This is the third in a series of columns on the president’s cabinet by Bruce Simmons of Aurora, who worked in the private sector in Washington, D.C., for 25 years before leaving to become a high school humanities teacher. He is retired now and writes novels. Visit his website at bwsimmons.org.