# High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

The high commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was an official who administered the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), a United Nations trusteeship in the Pacific Ocean under the administration of the United States, between 1947 and 1994. The territory consisted of islands captured by America during World War II, prior to which they had been part of the Empire of Japan as the South Seas Mandate, within the Japanese colonial empire. After World War II, United Nations Security Council Resolution 21 placed the territory under the United States trusteeship as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The islands are now part of Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

## List

The following is a list of the high commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, as well as their predecessors during the American occupation of the territory between 1944 and 1947.
(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office |
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
| United States Navy control ||||||
| Military Governor ||||||
| 1 | | John H. Hoover (1887–1970) | March 1944 | 19 June 1944 | 3 months |
| Military Governor and CINCPACFLT ||||||
| 2 | | Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) | 19 June 1944 | 24 November 1945 | 1 year, 158 days |
| 3 | | Raymond A. Spruance (1885–1969) | 24 November 1945 | 3 February 1946 | 71 days |
| 4 | | John H. Towers (1885–1955) | 3 February 1946 | 28 February 1947 | 1 year, 25 days |
| 5 | | Louis E. Denfeld (1891–1972) | 28 February 1947 | 18 July 1947 | 140 days |
| Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands ||||||
| High Commissioner and CINCPACFLT ||||||
| 1 | | Louis E. Denfeld (1891–1972) | 18 July 1947 | 17 April 1948 | 274 days |
| 2 | | DeWitt Clinton Ramsey (1888–1961) | 17 April 1948 | 1 May 1949 | 1 year, 14 days |
| 3 | | Arthur W. Radford (1896–1973) | 1 May 1949 | 6 January 1951 | 1 year, 250 days |
| High Commissioner ||||||
| 4 | | Elbert D. Thomas (1883–1953) | 6 January 1951 | 11 February 1953 † | 2 years, 36 days |
| 5 | | Frank E. Midkiff (1887–1983) | 13 March 1953 | 1 September 1954 | 1 year, 172 days |
| – | | Delmas H. Nucker (1907–1985) | 1 September 1954 | November 1956 | 6 years, 242 days |
| 6 | | Delmas H. Nucker (1907–1985) | November 1956 | 1 May 1961 | 6 years, 242 days |
| 7 | | Maurice W. Goding (1911–1989) | 1 May 1961 | 27 May 1966 | 5 years, 26 days |
| – | | William R. Norwood (1909–1981) | 27 May 1966 | 1 August 1966 | 2 years, 339 days |
| 8 | | William R. Norwood (1909–1981) | 1 August 1966 | 1 May 1969 | 2 years, 339 days |
| 9 | | Edward E. Johnston (1918–2011) | 1 May 1969 | 1 July 1976 | 7 years, 61 days |
| – | | Peter Tali Coleman (1919–1997) | 1 July 1976 | February 1977 | 7 months |
| – | | James Boyd Mackenzie (1918–1978) | February 1977 | 9 July 1977 | 5 months |
| 10 | | Adrian P. Winkel (1915–1994) | 9 July 1977 | 1981 | 3–4 years |
| – | | Daniel Joseph High (born 1938) | 1981 | December 1981 | 0 years |
| 11 | | Janet J. McCoy (1916–1995) | December 1981 | 10 July 1987 | 5 years, 7 months |
| Director of the Office of Transition ||||||
| 12 | | Charles D. Jordan | 3 November 1986 | 30 September 1991 | 4 years, 331 days |

## Palau

* Palau continued to be administered by the Office of Territorial and International Affairs (presently the Office of Insular Affairs), a unit of the United States Department of the Interior until May 25, 1994.