# List of ambassadors of the United States to Yugoslavia

The nation of Yugoslavia was formed on December 1, 1918 as a result of the realignment of nations and national boundaries in Europe in the aftermath of World War I. The nation was first named the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The kingdom occupied the area in the Balkans comprising the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and most of present-day Slovenia and Croatia. The United States recognized the newly formed nation and commissioned its first envoy to the kingdom on July 17, 1919. Previously the U.S. had had an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary who was commissioned to Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia while resident in Bucharest, Romania. Towards the end of the 1930s, the diplomatic relations between Belgrade and Washington were raised from ministerial to the ambassadorial level.
At the beginning of World War II, the government of Yugoslavia fled Belgrade and formed a government in exile in London and later in Cairo. During that time the U.S. ambassadors continued to represent the United States in London and Cairo. The embassy was transferred back to Belgrade in 1945.
Between 1943 and 1992 the nation was known by various names, including the Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (1943), the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1946), and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963).
After the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, the remnants of the nation, comprising the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, constituted a new state known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On May 21, 1992, the United States announced that it did not recognize the Federal Republic. The ambassador had left Belgrade one week earlier. A series of chargés d'affaires represented the U.S. government until 1999, when the embassy was closed.
In 2001 the United States recognized the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commissioned an ambassador to Belgrade.
In 2003 the parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ratified the Constitutional Charter, establishing a new state union and changing the name of the country from Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro. The U.S. ambassador continued in his post as the ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro.
For ambassadors to Serbia before and after Yugoslavia, see United States Ambassador to Serbia.

## Ambassadors

| Name | Title | Appointed | Presented credentials | Terminated mission | Notes |
| Henry Percival Dodge – Career FSO | Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | July 17, 1919 | October 5, 1919 | March 21, 1926 | |
| John Dyneley Prince – Political appointee | Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | February 23, 1926 | May 5, 1926 | August 31, 1932 | |
| Charles S. Wilson – Career FSO | Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | August 3, 1933 | September 11, 1933 | July 28, 1937 | |
| Arthur Bliss Lane – Career FSO | Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | August 9, 1937 | October 23, 1937 | May 17, 1941 | |
| Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr. – Political appointee | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | July 30, 1941 | October 3, 1941 | September 28, 1943 | Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary September 1942 |
| Lincoln MacVeagh – Political appointee | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | November 12, 1943 | December 9, 1943 | March 11, 1944 | |
| Richard C. Patterson, Jr. – Political appointee | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | September 21, 1944 | November 17, 1944 | Left Belgrade October 25, 1946 | |
| Cavendish W. Cannon – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | April 10, 1947 | July 14, 1947 | October 19, 1949 | |
| George V. Allen – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | October 27, 1949 | January 25, 1950 | March 11, 1953 | |
| James Williams Riddleberger – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | July 31, 1953 | November 16, 1953 | January 11, 1958 | |
| Karl L. Rankin – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | December 13, 1957 | February 19, 1958 | April 22, 1961 | |
| George F. Kennan – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | March 7, 1961 | May 16, 1961 | July 28, 1963 | |
| Charles Burke Elbrick – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | January 29, 1964 | March 17, 1964 | April 28, 1969 | |
| William K. Leonhart – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | May 1, 1969 | June 30, 1969 | October 18, 1971 | |
| Malcolm Toon – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | October 7, 1971 | October 23, 1971 | March 11, 1975 | |
| Laurence H. Silberman - Political appointee | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | May 8, 1975 | May 26, 1975 | December 26, 1976 | |
| Lawrence S. Eagleburger – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | June 8, 1977 | June 21, 1977 | January 24, 1981 | |
| David Anderson – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | July 27, 1981 | August 19, 1981 | June 26, 1985 | |
| John Douglas Scanlan – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | July 12, 1985 | July 26, 1985 | March 6, 1989 | |
| Warren Zimmermann – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | July 11, 1988 | March 21, 1989 | May 16, 1992 | The United States announced on May 21, 1992, that it would not recognize the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, as the successor to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. |
| Robert Rackmales | Chargés d'affaires ad interim | May 1992 | N/A | July 1993 | |
| Rudolf V. Perina | Chargés d'affaires ad interim | July 1993 | N/A | February 1996 | |
| Lawrence Butler | Chargés d'affaires ad interim | February 1996 | N/A | August 1996 | |
| Richard M. Miles | Chargés d'affaires ad interim | August 1996 | N/A | March 1999 | The embassy was closed March 23, 1999. Miles and the last Embassy personnel left March 24, and NATO armed forces began military action against Serbia-Montenegro that evening. |
| William Dale Montgomery – Career FSO | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | November 26, 2001 | January 4, 2002 | February 29, 2004 | The United States again recognized the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2001 and posted an ambassador to that nation. |
Montgomery was the last ambassador sent by the U.S. to a state known as Yugoslavia. Hereafter ambassadors in Belgrade were commissioned to Serbia and Montenegro until 2006, and then to Serbia onward. For subsequent ambassadors in Belgrade, see United States Ambassador to Serbia.