About Us Office Home About Us Resources Protocol Reference Contact Us HomeOffice of the Chief of Protocol...Facts & History hide Facts & History Office of the Chief of Protocol Discover More Visits by Foreign Leaders Travels Abroad of the President The Diplomatic Reception Rooms The White House The Blair House The National Museum of American Diplomacy The body of law, customs and practices governing diplomatic conduct is called protocol. It is derived from the Greek words proto (first) and collon (glued), meaning that the first page of a manuscript, often serving as a summary of a treaty or diplomatic dispatch, must be glued to the outside of the document or volume. The State Department first appointed a full-time protocol officer in 1916 and established the Office of the Chief of Protocol on February 4, 1928. In 1946, the President commissioned the State Department’s Chief of Protocol to also carry the title “Chief of Protocol of the White House.” Since 1961, the Chief of Protocol has been commissioned an Ambassador, requiring the President’s nominee to be confirmed by the Senate. Former Chiefs of Protocol Sean Patrick Lawler ……………………. December 2017 – July 2019 Peter A. Selfridge ……………………….. May 2014 – December 2016 Capricia Penavic Marshall …………… August 2009 – August 2013 Nancy Goodman Brinker …………….. September 2007 – January 2009 Donald Burnham Ensenat …………… June 2001 – February 2007 Mary Mel French ………………………… November 1997 – January 2001 Molly Raiser ……………………………….. August 1993 – July 1997 John Giffen Weinmann ……………….. October 1991 – January 1993 Joseph Verner Reed …………………… January 1989 – October 1991 Selwa Roosevelt ………………………… April 1982 – January 1989 Leonore Annenberg ……………………. March 1981 – January 1982 Abelardo L. Valdez ………………………October 1979 – January 1981 Edith J. Dobelle ………………………….. May 1978 – September 1979 Evan Dobelle ……………………………… March 1977 – May 1978 Shirley Temple Black …………………… July 1976 – January 1977 Henry E. Catto, Jr. ……………………….. April 1974 – July 1976 Marion H. Smoak ……………………….. July 1972 – March 1974 Emil Mosbacher, Jr. …………………….. January 1969 – June 1972 Tyler Abell ………………………………….. September 1968 – January 1969 Angier Biddle Duke ……………………… April 1968 – September 1968 James W. Symington ………………….. March 1966 – March 1968 Lloyd Nelson Hand …………………….. January 1965 – March 1966 Angier Biddle Duke …………………….. January 1961 – January 1965 Wiley T. Buchanan ………………………. February 1957 – January 1961 John Farr Simmons …………………….. August 1950 – January 1957 Stanley Woodward ……………………… January 1944 – May 1950 George T. Summerlin ………………….. July 1937 – January 1944 Richard Southgate ………………………. April 1935 – July 1937 James Clement Dunn ………………….. June 1933 – July 1935 Warren D. Robbins ……………………… July 1931 – May 1933 James Clement Dunn ………………….. February 1928 – February 1930
