List of ambassadors of the United States to Venezuela

The following is a list of United States ambassadors, or other chiefs of mission, to Venezuela. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. The ambassadors are posted at the Embassy of the United States, Caracas, however due to the diplomatic conflict between the United States and Venezuela, the personnel who previously held this position worked at the Venezuela Affairs Unit from the US Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. The United States sent a Chargé d'Affaires to Caracas after the 2026 intervention in Venezuela.

Ambassadors Representative Title Presentationof credentials Terminationof mission Appointed by B.IrvineNational Archives, Washington. RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Special Agents, Volume 8. T. XII, p. 119Chargé d'Affaires February 14, 1819 June 29, 1835 Martin Van Buren John G. A. Williamson Chargé d'Affaires June 30, 1835 August 7, 1840 Andrew Jackson A. A. Hall Chargé d'Affaires September 22, 1841 November 29, 1844 John Tyler Vespasian Ellis Chargé d'Affaires November 29, 1844 August 1, 1845 Benjamin G. Shields Chargé d'Affaires August 1, 1845 January 2, 1850 James K. Polk I. Nevitt Steele Chargé d'Affaires January 7, 1850 October 18, 1853 Zachary Taylor Charles Eames Chargé d'Affaires May 23, 1854 September 2, 1854 Franklin Pierce Minister Resident September 2, 1854 September 14, 1858 Edward A. Turpin Minister Resident September 21, 1858 November 16, 1861 James Buchanan Henry T. Blow Minister Resident June 8, 1861 February 22, 1862 Abraham Lincoln Erastus D. Culver Minister Resident October 7, 1862 May 17, 1866 James Wilson Minister Resident October 10, 1866 August 8, 1867 Andrew Johnson Thomas N. Stilwell Minister Resident December 16, 1867 June 7, 1868 James R. Partridge Minister Resident July 8, 1869 May 9, 1870 Ulysses S. Grant William A. Pile Minister Resident October 9, 1871 January 9, 1874 Thomas Russell Minister Resident July 4, 1874 January 29, 1877 Jehu Baker Minister Resident March 18, 1878 September 5, 1881 Rutherford B. Hayes George W. Carter Minister Resident September 1881 May 16, 1882 Chester A. Arthur Jehu Baker Minister Resident May 16, 1882 July 7, 1884 Rutherford B. Hayes Minister Resident/Consul General July 7, 1884 June 20, 1885 Chester A. Arthur Charles L. Scott Minister Resident/Consul General June 24, 1885 September 18, 1888 Grover Cleveland Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary September 18, 1888 January 18, 1889 William L. Scruggs Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary May 30, 1889 December 15, 1892 Benjamin Harrison Frank C. Partridge Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary March 4, 1893 January 9, 1894 Grover Cleveland Seneca Haselton Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary July 14, 1894 May 1, 1895 Allen Thomas Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary July 22, 1895 June 30, 1897 Francis B. Loomis Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary October 6, 1897 March 25, 1901 William McKinley Herbert W. Bowen Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary August 24, 1901 May 1, 1905 William W. Russell Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary August 22, 1905 March 8, 1908 Theodore Roosevelt Jacob Sleeper Chargé d'Affaires ad interim March 8, 1908 March 15, 1909 William W. Russell Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary March 15, 1909 March 24, 1910 William H. Taft John W. Garrett Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary March 30, 1911 October 21, 1911 Elliott Northcott Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary February 14, 1912 June 3, 1913 Preston Buford McGoodwin Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary October 22, 1913 October 5, 1921 Woodrow Wilson Willis C. Cook Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary February 1, 1922 May 7, 1929 Warren G. Harding George T. Summerlin Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary February 21, 1930 January 15, 1935 Herbert Hoover Meredith Nicholson Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary April 22, 1935 April 14, 1938 Franklin D. Roosevelt Antonio C. Gonzalez Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary May 18, 1938 February 8, 1939 Frank P. Corrigan Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary August 14, 1939 September 5, 1947 Walter J. Donnelly Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary December 1, 1947 September 2, 1950 Harry S. Truman Norman Armour Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary December 7, 1950 October 2, 1951 Fletcher Warren Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 21, 1951 March 24, 1956 Dempster McIntosh Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary April 26, 1956 December 27, 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower Edward J. Sparks Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 19, 1958 April 15, 1961 Teodoro Moscoso Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary May 23, 1961 November 21, 1961 John F. Kennedy C. Allan Stewart Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 14, 1962 November 28, 1964 Maurice M. Bernbaum Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 4, 1965 July 9, 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson Robert M. McClintock Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary July 7, 1970 March 14, 1975 Richard Nixon Harry W. Shlaudeman Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary May 9, 1975 May 14, 1976 Gerald Ford Viron P. Vaky Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary July 26, 1976 June 24, 1978 William H. Luers Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary October 9, 1978 June 28, 1982 Jimmy Carter George W. Landau Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary August 25, 1982 June 4, 1985 Ronald Reagan Otto J. Reich Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary June 6, 1986 July 17, 1989 Kenneth N. Skoug, Jr. Chargé d'Affaires ad interim July 17, 1989 September 1990 George H. W. Bush Robert C. Felder Chargé d'Affaires ad interim September 1990 November 19, 1990 Michael Martin Skol Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 19, 1990 August 23, 1993 Jeffrey Davidow Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary October 1, 1993 May 16, 1996 Bill Clinton John F. Keane Chargé d'Affaires ad interim May 1996 March 1997 John Francis Maisto Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 21, 1997 August 7, 2000 Donna Jean Hrinak Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary August 25, 2000 January 23, 2002 Charles S. Shapiro Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary March 19, 2002 August 31, 2004 George W. Bush William Brownfield Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary October 15, 2004 July 2007 Patrick Duddy Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary October 29, 2007 September 6, 2008 John Caulfield Chargé d'Affaires ad interim September 6, 2008 July 1, 2009 Patrick Duddy Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary July 1, 2009 July 16, 2010 Barack Obama Phil Laidlaw Chargé d'Affaires ad interim July 16, 2010 July 9, 2014 M. Lee McClenny Chargé d'Affaires ad interim July 9, 2014 December 15, 2017  Larry Leon PalmerAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryNot commissioned—Barack ObamaTodd D. RobinsonChargé d'Affaires ad interimDecember 18, 2017May 22, 2018 Donald TrumpJames B. StoryAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryJuly 2018May 19, 2023Francisco PalmieriChief of MissionMay 19, 2023January 20, 2025Joe BidenMichael A. BarkinChargé d'Affaires ad interimJanuary 20, 2025February 1, 2025 Donald TrumpJohn McNamaraChargé d'Affaires ad interimFebruary 1, 2025January 21, 2026Laura Farnsworth Dogu Chargé d'Affaires ad interimJanuary 22, 2026April 15, 2026John M. BarrettApril 23, 2026Present

See also United States – Venezuela relations Foreign relations of Venezuela Ambassadors of the United States

Notes

References Specific

General United States Department of State: Background notes on Venezuela

External links United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for Venezuela United States Department of State: Venezuela United States Embassy in Caracas