In 1832, shortly after the creation of the Kingdom of Belgium, the United States established diplomatic relations. Since that time, a long line of distinguished envoys have represented American interests in Belgium. These diplomats included men and women whose career paths would lead them to become Secretary of States (Hugh S. Legaré), Secretary of Commerce (Charles Sawyer) and Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (Joseph E. Davies).
Belgian-American Relations were cemented when Brand Whitlock, as representative of the neutral United States, worked during World War I to bring humanitarian aid to help millions of Belgians in danger of starvation caused by the British blockade and the German occupation.
Future envoys found themselves working through the Marshall Plan, the foundation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and joint efforts with the European Union. In 1944, when Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Charles W. Sawyer to Ambassador to Belgium he remarked "What could be more interesting, than the carrefour [crossroads] of Europe in the closing days of the war?" and during the late 1960s another well-respected envoy John S.D. Eisenhower, the son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, served as ambassador to Belgium.
This is a complete list of United States ambassadors to Belgium:
List of U.S. chiefs of mission to Belgium Chargés d'affaires Hugh S. Legaré 1832–1836 Virgil Maxcy 1837–1842 Henry Washington Hilliard 1842–1844 Thomas Green Clemson 1844–1851 Richard H. Bayard 1851–1853 John Jacob Seibels 1852–1854
Ministers resident John Jacob Seibels 1854–1856 Elisha Y. Fair 1858–1861 Henry Shelton Sanford 1861–1869 Joseph Russell Jones 1869–1875 Ayres Phillips Merrill 1876–1877 William C. Goodloe 1878–1880 James O. Putnam 1880–1882 Nicholas Fish II 1882–1885 Lambert Tree 1885–1888
Envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary Lambert Tree 1888 John Gibson Parkhurst 1888–1889 Edwin H. Terrell 1889–1893 James Stevenson Ewing 1893–1897 Bellamy Storer 1897–1899 Lawrence Townsend 1899–1905 Henry Lane Wilson 1905–1909 Charles Page Bryan 1910–1911 Larz Anderson 1911–1912 Theodore Marburg 1912–1914 Brand Whitlock 1914–1919
Ambassadors Brand Whitlock 1919–1921 Henry P. Fletcher 1922–1924 William Phillips 1924–1927 Hugh S. Gibson 1927–1933 Dave Hennen Morris 1933–1937 Hugh S. Gibson 1937–1938 Joseph E. Davies 1938–1939 John Cudahy 1940 Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. 1941–1943 Charles W. Sawyer 1944–1945 Alan Goodrich Kirk 1946–1949 Robert Daniel Murphy 1949–1952 Myron Melvin Cowen 1952–1953 Frederick M. Alger Jr. 1953–1957 John Clifford Folger 1957–1959 William A. M. Burden 1959–1961 Douglas MacArthur II 1961–1965 Ridgway B. Knight 1965–1969 John S. D. Eisenhower 1969–1971 Robert Strausz-Hupé 1972–1974 Leonard Firestone 1974–1977 Anne Cox Chambers 1977–1981 Charles H. Price II 1981–1983 Geoffrey Swaebe 1983–1988 Maynard W. Glitman 1988–1991 Bruce Gelb 1991–1993 Alan Blinken 1993–1997 Paul L. Cejas 1997–2001 Stephen Brauer 2001–2003 Tom C. Korologos 2004–2007 Sam Fox 2007–2009 Wayne Bush 2009 (Acting) Howard W. Gutman 2009–2013 Denise Campbell Bauer 2013–2017 Ronald Gidwitz 2018–2021 Nicholas Berliner 2021–2022 (Acting) Michael M. Adler 2022–2025
Bill White 2025-
See also Belgium – United States relations Foreign relations of Belgium Ambassadors of the United States List of Belgian ambassadors to the United States United States Ambassador to the European Union - also based in Brussels
References
United States Department of State: Background notes on Belgium
External links United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for Belgium United States Department of State: Belgium United States Embassy in Brussels