The United States had diplomatic relations with the Papal States from 1797 to 1867. The Papal States ceased to exist in 1870, when its last territory (the city of Rome) was lost to the Kingdom of Italy. After that, the international status of the Papacy was controversial until 1929, when the Italian government agreed to the establishment of Vatican City as a sovereign city-state.
The United States was slow to establish full diplomatic relations with the re-established Holy See, partly due to the prevalence of anti-Catholicism in the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Postmaster General James Farley was the first high-ranking government official to normalize relations with the Holy See in 1933 when the Postmaster General set sail for Europe, along with Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinoff on the Italian Liner SS Conte di Savoia. In Italy Farley had an audience with Pope Pius XI, and dinner with Cardinal Pacelli, who was to accede to the papacy in 1939.[2] Myron Charles Taylor, an industrialist, philanthropist and diplomat (starting with World War II), served from December 1939 until 1950 as the personal representative of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman to the Vatican.[4]
On October 20, 1951, Truman nominated Mark W. Clark, a U.S. Army general and World War II hero, to be emissary to the Holy See. Clark later withdrew his nomination on January 13, 1952, following protests from U.S. Senator Tom Connally from Texas and Protestant groups.
Between 1951 and 1968, the United States had no official representative accredited to the Holy See.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon changed this when he appointed—as his personal representative[clarification needed]—Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Nixon's 1960 Republican vice presidential running mate and a former U.S. ambassador (to the United Nations, South Vietnam, and West Germany).
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter followed with the appointment of Robert F. Wagner Jr., a former mayor of New York City and U.S. Ambassador to Spain.
More information Image, Name and title ...
Heads of the U.S. Legation at Rome (1848–1867)
Image |
Name and title |
Presentation of credentials |
Termination of mission |
|
Jacob L. Martin, Chargé d'Affaires |
August 19, 1848 |
August 26, 1848 |
|
Lewis Cass Jr., Minister Resident |
November 19, 1849 |
November 27, 1858 |
|
John P. Stockton, Minister Resident |
November 27, 1858 |
May 23, 1861 |
|
Alexander Randall, Minister Resident |
June 6, 1862 |
August 4, 1862 |
|
Richard Milford Blatchford, Minister Resident |
November 26, 1862 |
May 20, 1863 |
|
Rufus King, Minister Resident |
January 8, 1864 |
August 17, 1867 |
Close