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 You are in: Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs: Office of the Historian > Principal Officers of the Department and U.S. Chiefs of Mission > Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778-2005 > Cambodia-Dominican Republic 

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

(formerly Zaire)

Note: The Embassy in Leopoldville (now Kinshasha) was established on Jun 30, 1960, with John D. Tomlinson as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim.

Name: Clare H. Timberlake
State of Residency: Michigan
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Jul 5, 1960
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 25, 1960
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jun 15, 1961
Note: Commissioned to the Congo.

Name: Edmund A. Gullion
State of Residency: Kentucky
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Aug 3, 1961
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 11, 1961
Termination of Mission: Left post, Feb 20, 1964
Note: Commissioned to the Republic of the Congo.

Name: G. McMurtrie Godley
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Feb 20, 1964
Presentation of Credentials: Mar 23, 1964
Termination of Mission: Left post, Oct 15, 1966
Note: Commissioned to the Republic of the Congo.

Name: Robert H. McBride
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: May 10, 1967
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 29, 1967
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 16, 1969
Note: Commissioned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Name: Sheldon B. Vance
State of Residency: Minnesota
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: May 27, 1969
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 28, 1969
Termination of Mission: Left post, Mar 26, 1974
Note: Commissioned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Name: Deane R. Hinton
State of Residency: Illinois
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Jun 20, 1974
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 21, 1974
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jun 21, 1975
Note: Declared persona non grata by the Government of Zaire, Jun 18, 1975.

Name: Walter L. Cutler
State of Residency: Maine
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Nov 20, 1975
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 23, 1975
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 9, 1979

Name: Robert B. Oakley
State of Residency: Louisiana
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Nov 6, 1979
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 28, 1979
Termination of Mission: Left post, Aug 22, 1982

Name: Peter Dalton Constable
State of Residency: New York
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Sep 30, 1982
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 18, 1982
Termination of Mission: Left post, Aug 31, 1984

Name: Brandon Hambright Grove, Jr.
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Aug 13, 1984
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 18, 1984
Termination of Mission: Left post, Sep 18, 1987

Name: William Caldwell Harrop
State of Residency: New Jersey
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Dec 18, 1987
Presentation of Credentials: Jan 28, 1988
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 18, 1991

Name: Melissa Foelsch Wells
State of Residency: Connecticut
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Apr 25, 1991
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 11, 1991
Termination of Mission: Left post, Mar 21, 1992


Note: The following officers then served as Chargés d'Affaires ad interim:  John M Yates (Mar 1992- Sep 1995), Roger A. Meece (Sep-Nov 1995).

Name: Daniel H. Simpson
State of Residency: Ohio
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Oct 3, 1995
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 23, 1995
Termination of Mission: Left post Jun 11, 1998

Name: William Lacy Swing
State of Residency: North Carolina
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Aug 11, 1998
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 13, 1998
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 11, 2001
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned Mar 25, 1999.

Name: Aubrey Hooks
State of Residency: Virginia
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Jul 12, 2001
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 4, 2001
Termination of Mission: Apr 17, 2004

Name: Roger A. Meece
State of Residency: West Virginia
Foreign Service officer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointment: May 14, 2004
Presentation of Credentials: Aug. 3, 2004
Termination of Mission:



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