United States Deputy Secretary of State

United States Deputy Secretary of State
Incumbent William Joseph Burns since July 28, 2011
Inaugural holder	John N. Irwin, II
Formation	1972
Website	Official Website

The Deputy Secretary of State of the United States is the chief assistant to the Secretary of State. If the Secretary of State resigns or dies, the Deputy Secretary of State becomes Acting Secretary of State until the President nominates and the Senate confirms a replacement. The position was created in 1972. Prior to July 13, 1972, the Under Secretary of State had been the second ranking officer of the Department. The current Deputy Secretary of State is William Joseph Burns, formerly the Under Secretary for Political Affairs and the most senior career foreign service officer in the State Department. The current Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources is Thomas R. Nides.

List of Deputy Secretaries of State

#	Name	Term Began	Term Ended	President(s) served under
1	John N. Irwin II	July 13, 1972	February 1, 1973	Richard Nixon
2	Kenneth Rush	February 2, 1973	May 29, 1974
3	Robert S. Ingersoll	July 10, 1974	March 31, 1976
				Gerald Ford
4	Charles W. Robinson	April 9, 1976	January 20, 1977
5	Warren Christopher	February 26, 1977	January 16, 1981	Jimmy Carter
6	William P. Clark	February 25, 1981	February 9, 1982	Ronald Reagan
7	Walter John Stoessel, Jr.	February 11, 1982	September 22, 1982
8	Kenneth W. Dam	September 23, 1982	June 15, 1985
9	John C. Whitehead	July 9, 1985	January 20, 1989
10	Lawrence Eagleburger	January 20, 1989	August 19, 1992	George H. W. Bush
11	Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.	January 27, 1993	November 8, 1993	Bill Clinton
12	Strobe Talbott	February 22, 1994	January 19, 2001
13	Richard Armitage	March 26, 2001	February 22, 2005	George W. Bush
14	Robert Zoellick	February 22, 2005	July 7, 2006
15	John Negroponte	February 13, 2007	January 19, 2009
16	James Steinberg	January 28, 2009	July 28, 2011	Barack Obama
17	William Joseph Burns	July 28, 2011	Incumbent