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List of ambassadors of the United States to Iceland

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Ambassador of the United States to Iceland
Seal of the United States Department of State
United States ambassador flag
Incumbent
Carrin Patman
since October 6, 2022
NominatorThe President of the United States
AppointerThe President
with Senate advice and consent
Inaugural holder
FormationAugust 8, 1941 (1941-08-08)
Websiteis.usembassy.gov

Until 1874, Iceland was a dependency of Denmark rather than an independent nation. In 1874, Denmark granted Iceland home rule, which again was expanded in 1904. In 1918, The Act of Union, an agreement between Denmark, recognized Iceland as a fully sovereign state united with Denmark under a common king. Iceland established its own flag and asked that Denmark represent its foreign affairs and defense interests; thus, the United States ambassador to Denmark conducted foreign relations between the United States and Iceland.

The German invasion and occupation of Denmark on April 9, 1940, severed communications between Iceland and Denmark. As a result, on April 10, the Parliament of Iceland elected to take control of their own foreign affairs. The United States thus commissioned Lincoln MacVeagh as its first ambassador to Iceland on August 8, 1941. MacVeagh presented his credentials to the foreign minister of Iceland on September 30, 1941. His title was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. The US has maintained continuous diplomatic relations with Iceland since then.

Following a plebiscite, Iceland formally became an independent republic on June 17, 1944.

The current ambassador is Carrin Patman, who presented her credentials to President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson on October 6, 2022.[1]

List of ambassadors

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# Name Title Appointment Presentation of credentials Termination of mission Nature of appointment Nature of termination
1 Lincoln MacVeagh Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 1941-08-08 1941-09-30 1942-06-27 Political appointee Left post
2 Leland Burnette Morris 1942-08-13 1942-10-07 1944-05-10 Career FSO Relinquished charge
3 Louis Goethe Dreyfus, Jr. 1944-03-21 1944-06-14 1946-10-21 Left post
4 Richard P. Butrick 1948-02-26 1948-04-29 1949-08-10
5 Edward B. Lawson 1949-07-22 1949-09-22 1954-05-29
6 John Joseph Muccio 1954-08-23 1954-10-12 1955-10-19 Mission title changed
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary 1955-10-19 1955-11-03 1959-12-16 Left post
7 Tyler Thompson 1960-01-27 1960-02-19 1961-04-16
8 James K. Penfield 1961-04-27 1961-05-24 1967-03-16
9 Karl Fritjof Rolvaag 1967-04-05 1967-05-09 1969-03-27 Political appointee
10 Luther I. Replogle 1969-07-08 1969-09-12 1972-06-15
11 Frederick Irving 1972-09-11 1972-10-11 1976-04-21 Career FSO
12 James J. Blake 1976-07-01 1976-09-08 1978-09-29
13 Richard A. Ericson, Jr.[2] 1978-10-12 1978-11-21 1981-08-15
14 Marshall Brement 1981-07-27 1981-09-16 1985-08-01
15 L. Nicholas Ruwe 1985-07-12 1985-08-21 1989-10-07 Political appointee
16 Charles Elvan Cobb, Jr. 1989-10-10 1989-11-08 1992-01-10
17 Sigmund Rogich 1992-05-11 1992-06-04 1993-10-14
18 Parker W. Borg 1993-10-08 1993-11-24 1996-07-13 Career FSO
19 Day O. Mount 1996-06-11 1996-09-03 1999-08-12
20 Barbara J. Griffiths 1999-08-09 1999-09-29 2002-07-29
21 James Irvin Gadsden 2002-10-03 2002-12-09 2005-07-14
22 Carol van Voorst 2006-01-03 2006-01-26 2009-04-30
23 Luis E. Arreaga 2010-09-10 2010-09-20 2013-11-23
24 Robert C. Barber 2015-01-02 2015-01-28 2017-01-20 Political appointee
25 Jeffrey Ross Gunter 2019-05-23 2019-07-02 2021-01-20
26 Carrin Patman 2022-08-07 2022-10-06 Incumbent

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jóhannesson, Guðni Thorlacius [@PresidentISL] (2022-10-06). "Today H.E. Carrin Patman presented her credentials as the new US Ambassador to Iceland" (Tweet). Retrieved 2022-10-15 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR RICHARD A. ERICSON, JR" (PDF). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. 1995-03-27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-07-17. Retrieved 2024-07-17.

Further reading

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