List of ambassadors of the United States to Albania

Ambassador of the United States to Albania
Ambasadori i Shteteve të Bashkuara në Shqipëri
Seal of the United States Department of State
Incumbent David Wisner Chargé d'Affaires ad interim^[1] since August 18, 2023
Nominator	The President of the United States
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Inaugural holder	Ulysses Grant-Smith as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Formation	September 22, 1922
Website	Ambassador to Albania

U.S. diplomatic terms
Career FSO After 1915, The United States Department of State began classifying ambassadors as career Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) for those who have served in the Foreign Service for a specified amount of time. Political appointee A person who is not a career foreign service officer, but is appointed by the president (often as a reward to political friends). Appointed The date that the ambassador took the oath of office; also known as "commissioning". It follows confirmation of a presidential appointment by the Senate, or a Congressional recess appointment by the president. In the case of a recess appointment, the ambassador requires subsequent confirmation by the Senate to remain in office. Presented credentials The date that the ambassador presented his letter of credence to the head of state or appropriate authority of the receiving nation. At this time the ambassador officially becomes the representative of his country. This would normally occur a short time after the ambassador's arrival on station. The host nation may reject the ambassador by not receiving the ambassador's letter, but this occurs only rarely. Terminated mission Usually the date that the ambassador left the country. In some cases a letter of recall is presented, ending the ambassador's commission, either as a means of diplomatic protest or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and replaced by another envoy. Chargé d'affaires The person in charge of the business of the embassy when there is no ambassador commissioned to the host country. Ad interim Latin phrase meaning "for the time being", "in the meantime".

Career FSO
After 1915, The United States Department of State began classifying ambassadors as career Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) for those who have served in the Foreign Service for a specified amount of time.

Political appointee
A person who is not a career foreign service officer, but is appointed by the president (often as a reward to political friends).

Appointed
The date that the ambassador took the oath of office; also known as "commissioning". It follows confirmation of a presidential appointment by the Senate, or a Congressional recess appointment by the president. In the case of a recess appointment, the ambassador requires subsequent confirmation by the Senate to remain in office.

Presented credentials
The date that the ambassador presented his letter of credence to the head of state or appropriate authority of the receiving nation. At this time the ambassador officially becomes the representative of his country. This would normally occur a short time after the ambassador's arrival on station. The host nation may reject the ambassador by not receiving the ambassador's letter, but this occurs only rarely.

Terminated mission
Usually the date that the ambassador left the country. In some cases a letter of recall is presented, ending the ambassador's commission, either as a means of diplomatic protest or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and replaced by another envoy.

Chargé d'affaires
The person in charge of the business of the embassy when there is no ambassador commissioned to the host country.

Ad interim
Latin phrase meaning "for the time being", "in the meantime".

This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Albania. The ambassador is the head of the Embassy of the United States in Tirana.

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/5
Views:
3 652
9 308 152
5 432 679
303
620

Transcription

History

Albania had been under the domination of the Ottoman Empire since the 14th century, but gained a shaky independence in 1912 after an uprising against the Turks. After suffering invasions and occupations during the First and Second Balkan Wars and the Great War, Albania achieved a relatively stable degree of statehood.

The United States established diplomatic relations with Albania in 1922. President Harding appointed the first U.S. Minister to Albania, Ulysses Grant-Smith, who arrived in Tirana in December 1922. The first envoys to Albania had the rank of Minister.

Albania–United States relations were broken in 1939 upon the Italian invasion of Albania just prior to the start of World War II. Relations were not restored until the downfall of Communism in Europe in 1991.

Ambassadors


Name	Title	Appointed	Presented credentials	Terminated mission
Ulysses Grant-Smith – Career FSO	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	September 22, 1922	December 4, 1922	Left post, February 8, 1925
Charles C. Hart^[2] – Political appointee	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	May 27, 1925	August 1, 1925, and December 13, 1928^[3]	Left post, December 12, 1929
Herman Bernstein – Political appointee	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	February 17, 1930	April 28, 1930	Left post, September 24, 1933
Post Wheeler^[4] – Career FSO	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	August 26, 1933	November 28, 1933	Left post, November 1, 1934
Hugh Gladney Grant – Political appointee	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	August 9, 1935	November 8, 1935	Left post, September 27, 1939
Italian forces occupied Tirana on April 8, 1939, which effectively brought an end to the U.S. mission to Albania. The U.S. legation was officially closed on September 16, 1939. The United States resumed diplomatic relations with Albania on March 15, 1991. Embassy Tirana was opened October 1, 1991, with Christopher R. Hill as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim. The previous legation was raised to embassy status, and the envoys would henceforth have the rank of Ambassador.
William Edwin Ryerson – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	December 2, 1991	December 21, 1991	Left post, October 13, 1994
Joseph Edward Lake – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	July 5, 1994	October 17, 1994	Left post, March 15, 1996
Marisa R. Lino – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	July 2, 1996	September 4, 1996	May 20, 1999
Joseph Limprecht – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	July 7, 1999	September 8, 1999	Died in northern Albania, May 19, 2002^[5]^[6]
James Franklin Jeffrey – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	October 3, 2002	October 22, 2002	May 2, 2004
Marcie B. Ries – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	October 18, 2004	October 30, 2004	June 16, 2007
John L. Withers, II – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	June 28, 2007	August 29, 2007	November 10, 2010
Alexander Arvizu – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	July 1, 2010	December 6, 2010	January 11, 2015
Donald Lu – Career FSO	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	December 16, 2014	January 13, 2015	September 19, 2018^[7]
Leyla Moses-Ones^[8]	Chargé d'Affaires a.i.	September 19, 2018		January 27, 2020
Yuri Kim - Career General^[9]	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	November 21, 2019	January 27, 2020	June 25, 2023
Damian Smith - Career FSO	Chargé d'Affaires a.i.	June 26, 2023		August 1, 2023
H. Martin McDowell - Career FSO	Chargé d'Affaires a.i.	August 1, 2023		August 18, 2023
David Wisner - Career FSO	Chargé d'Affaires a.i.	August 18, 2023		Incumbent

Notes

^ https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=691183993036761&set=a.225301982958300&type=3
^ Hart was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on December 17, 1925.
^ Hart was reaccredited when Albania became a monarchy. He presented new credentials December 13, 1928
^ Wheeler was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on January 15, 1934.
^ Obituary, The New York Times. May 21, 2002
^ Obituary. Los Angeles Times. May 21, 2002
^ Bewig, Matt (June 8, 2018). "Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan: Who Is Donald Lu?". www.allgov.com. AllGov.com. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
^ "Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. Leyla Moses-Ones". September 2018. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2018. NOTE: Nominee Kathleen Ann Kavalec is awaiting Senate confirmation as new Ambassador to Albania, www.state.gov/m/dghr/coc/284673.htm (Dec. 2018)
^ "Ambassador Yuri Kim". U.S. Embassy in Albania. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.

References

United States Department of State: Background notes on Albania
This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

External links

v t e Ambassadors of the United States
Current countries	Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros DR Congo Congo Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon The Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati South Korea Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Suspended relations	Iran
Defunct countries	Czechoslovakia East Germany Hawaii North Yemen Ottoman Empire Prussia South Vietnam South Yemen Soviet Union Tanganyika Two Sicilies United Arab Republic Texas Yugoslavia
Other places	Curaçao Hong Kong and Macau Jerusalem Taiwan
International organizations	AU APEC ASEAN SAARC CD EU ICAO NATO OAS OECD OIC OPCW OSCE UN UNESCO UNEP UN Food and Agriculture UNVIE UN in Geneva UN Human Rights WTO
Ambassadors-at-large	Arctic Counterterrorism Global Women's Issues International Religious Freedom Global Criminal Justice Trafficking in Persons AIDS Antisemitism
Ambassadors by President	Donald Trump Joe Biden
Other	Women LGBT

This page was last edited on 19 August 2023, at 15:33

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia