# Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs

The Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs within the United States Department of State.

## List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Legislative Affairs

| # | Name | Assumed office | Left office | President served under |
| 1 | Dean Acheson | December 20, 1944 | August 15, 1945 | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 2 | Ernest A. Gross | March 4, 1949 | October 13, 1949 | Harry S. Truman |
| 3 | Jack K. McFall | October 15, 1949 | September 9, 1952 | Harry S. Truman |
| 4 | Thruston Ballard Morton | January 30, 1953 | February 29, 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 5 | Robert C. Hill | March 9, 1956 | June 26, 1957 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 6 | William B. Macomber Jr. | October 21, 1957 | February 27, 1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 7 | Brooks Hays | February 28, 1961 | December 3, 1961 | John F. Kennedy |
| 8 | Fred Dutton | December 4, 1961 | July 27, 1964 | John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 9 | Douglas MacArthur II | March 14, 1965 | March 6, 1967 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 10 | William B. Macomber Jr. | March 7, 1967 | October 2, 1969 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 11 | David Manker Abshire | April 20, 1970 | January 8, 1973 | Richard Nixon |
| 12 | Marshall Wright | May 29, 1973 | February 2, 1974 | Richard Nixon |
| 13 | A. Linwood Holton | February 28, 1974 | January 31, 1975 | Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford |
| 14 | Robert J. McCloskey | February 21, 1975 | September 10, 1976 | Gerald Ford |
| 15 | Douglas J. Bennet | March 18, 1977 | August 2, 1979 | Jimmy Carter |
| 16 | J. Brian Atwood | August 3, 1979 | January 14, 1981 | Jimmy Carter |
| 17 | Richard M. Fairbanks | March 6, 1981 | January 26, 1982 | Ronald Reagan |
| 18 | Powell A. Moore | February 8, 1982 | August 5, 1983 | Ronald Reagan |
| 19 | W. Tapley Bennett Jr. | November 17, 1983 | January 4, 1985 | Ronald Reagan |
| 20 | William L. Ball | April 2, 1985 | February 28, 1986 | Ronald Reagan |
| 21 | J. Edward Fox | June 18, 1986 | February 21, 1989 | Ronald Reagan |
| 22 | Janet G. Mullins | March 2, 1989 | August 23, 1992 | George H. W. Bush |
| 23 | Wendy Sherman | May 12, 1993 | March 29, 1996 | Bill Clinton |
| 24 | Barbara Mills Larkin | July 19, 1996 | January 19, 2001 | Bill Clinton |
| 25 | Paul Vincent Kelly | June 1, 2001 | January 24, 2005 | George W. Bush |
| 26 | Jeffrey Bergner | November 9, 2005 | June 27, 2008 | George W. Bush |
| 27 | Matthew A. Reynolds | October 7, 2008 | January 20, 2009 | George W. Bush |
| 28 | Richard Verma | April 6, 2009 | March 14, 2011 | Barack Obama |
| - | Joseph Macmanus (acting) | March 14, 2011 | August 4, 2011 | Barack Obama |
| 29 | David S. Adams | August 4, 2011 | June 18, 2013 | Barack Obama |
| 30 | Julia Frifield | October 21, 2013 | January 20, 2017 | Barack Obama |
| - | Joseph Macmanus (acting) | January 20, 2017 | December 20, 2017 | Donald Trump |
| 31 | Mary Kirtley Waters | December 20, 2017 | August 31, 2018 | Donald Trump |
| 32 | Mary Elizabeth Taylor | October 1, 2018 | June 18, 2020 | Donald Trump |
| - | Ryan M. Kaldahl (acting) | July 2020 | January 20, 2021 | Donald Trump |
| - | Naz Durakoğlu (acting) | January 20, 2021 | July 22, 2022 | Joe Biden |
| 33 | Naz Durakoğlu | July 22, 2022 | December 20, 2024 | Joe Biden |
| - | Philip Laidlaw (Senior Bureau Official) | December 20, 2024 | Incumbent |