United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...
within the
Foreign Service Institute
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreign ...
. It is legally responsible for the preparation and publication of the official historical documentary record of U.S. foreign policy in the ''
Foreign Relations of the United States
The United States has formal diplomatic relations with most nations. This includes all UN member and observer states other than Bhutan, Iran, North Korea and Syria, and the UN observer State of Palestine, the last of which the U.S. does not rec ...
'' series, which can be accessed at its website. It researches and writes historical studies on aspects of U.S.
diplomacy
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...
for use by policymakers and the public.
The office makes recommendations to other bureaus regarding the identification, maintenance, and long-term preservation of important historical diplomatic records. Its outreach activities include participating in the planning and installation of the historical components of the department's planned United States Center for Diplomacy, counseling private scholars and journalists on historical research issues, and responding to government and public inquiries on
diplomatic history
Diplomatic history deals with the history of international relations between states. Diplomatic history can be different from international relations in that the former can concern itself with the foreign policy of one state while the latter deals ...
questions.
List of Directors of the Office of the Historian
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Gaillard Hunt
Gaillard T. Hunt (September 8, 1862 – March 20, 1924) was an American author and civil servant.
Gaillard Hunt is notable because several of his works have been republished, in electronic form.
Available works include:
*"The Debates in the Federa ...
David Hunter Miller
David Hunter Miller (1875–1961) was a US lawyer and an expert on treaties who participated in the drafting of the covenant of the League of Nations.
He practiced law in New York City from 1911 to 1929; served on the Inquiry, a body of exper ...
David Trask
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
1976–1981
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William Slany
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of ...
Edward P. Brynn
Edward Paul Brynn, (August 1, 1942 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was a career diplomat, historian and educator. He was the American ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Burkina Faso from 1990 to 1993 and to Ghana from 1995 until 1998.
Bi ...
(acting) 2009–2012
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Stephen Randolph
Stephen LeCharles Randolph (born May 1, 1974) is an American left-handed pitcher formerly in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball.
Career
Randolph was selected by the New York Yankees in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draf ...
2012–2017
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Adam Howard
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...
&
Renée Goings
Renée (without the accent in non-French speaking countries) is a French/Latin feminine given name.
Renée is the female form of René, with the extra –e making it feminine according to French grammar. The name Renée is the French form of t ...
(co-directors ''pro tempore'') 2018–2019
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Adam Howard
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...