page_title: Diplomatic uniform
section_title: United States
hierarchical_section_title: Diplomatic uniform / Diplomatic uniforms by country / United States
context_page_description: Diplomatic uniforms are ornate uniforms worn by diplomats—ambassadorial and consular officers—at public occasions. Introduced by European states around 1800 and patterned on court dress, they were abandoned by most countries in the twentieth century, but diplomats from some countries retain them for rare, formal occasions.
context_section_description: American diplomats were first issued uniforms for the mission concluding the 1814 Treaty of Ghent; these consisted of a blue gold-embroidered coat, white breeches and stockings, a sword and a cocked hat with a black cockade. U.S. diplomats routinely designed and wore uniforms of their own choosing until 1817,  when the State Department formally prescribed a uniform for ministers based on the one issued for the Ghent mission. This uniform was recommended for use by all ministers abroad by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams in 1823.
  The Jackson administration simplified the uniform in 1829, which now consisted of a black coat with a gold star on each side of the collar, black or white breeches, a three-cornered chapeau de bras (i.e., a foldable tricorne hat), a black cockade and eagle, and a steel-mounted sword with white scabbard. This uniform was not mandatory, and some officials wore more brilliant uniforms according to their own taste.  In 1853, Secretary of State William L. Marcy issued a circular recommending that U.S. diplomats wear “the simple dress of an American citizen.”
  In response to what was perceived as the excessive ostentatiousness of some of these individualized uniforms, Congress banned diplomatic uniforms altogether in 1867, by passing a resolution forbidding diplomatic officials to wear "any uniform or official costume not previously authorized by Congress". This caused some discomfort to American diplomats, who now had to appear "underdressed", in evening dress, to official functions. In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt attracted considerable attention when he was one of the few foreign representatives at the funeral of King Edward VII who was not in civil or military uniform.
  For a period of time, U.S. diplomats and consular officers wore modified U.S. Navy uniforms, much as the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps continue to do so today. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order directing that no person in the diplomatic or consular service should wear a uniform or official costume not previously authorized by the United States Congress.
  While there has continued to be discussion on the idea of reintroducing uniforms for the U.S. Foreign Service, such as a modified U.S. Navy mess dress for formal occasions and presentation of credentials, such a change would require a law passed by Congress, since it is specified in the Foreign Service Act of 1946, section 1001, that "no officer or employee" of the Foreign Service was to "wear any uniform except such as may be authorized by law."
caption: Uniformed American representatives (left) signing the Treaty of Ghent in 1814
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