List of ambassadors of the United States to the Bahamas


The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Bahamas, usually simply called U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, is an official position and title appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate by majority vote. The ambassador oversees diplomatic relations and foreign policy between the United States and The Bahamas.
The ambassador lives in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.
Due to political disputes between Republican senators and then-President Barack Obama, the United States Senate refused to confirm an ambassador for many years, starting in November 2011. The post has been vacant and held by interim appointees, who are not Ambassadors, since then. Cassandra Butts, nominated for the post in 2013, died of leukemia in 2016, having spent more than two years awaiting a vote on her appointment. President Donald Trump nominated Doug Manchester as Ambassador in 2017, but the nomination "stalled in the Senate" and he eventually withdrew. In May, 2020, President Trump nominated William A. Douglass for the position.

List of U.S. Ambassadors to the Bahamas

The following is a list of United States Ambassadors, or other Chiefs of Mission, to The Bahamas. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
RepresentativeTitlePresentation
of Credentials		Termination
of Mission		Appointed by
Moncrieff J. SpearChargé d'Affaires ad interimJuly 10, 1973September 7, 1973Richard Nixon
Ronald I. SpiersAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiarySeptember 7, 1973September 2, 1974Richard Nixon
Seymour WeissAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiarySeptember 11, 1974December 15, 1976Gerald Ford
Jack B. OlsonAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryDecember 22, 1976April 30, 1977Gerald Ford
William Bernstein Schwartz Jr.Ambassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryOctober 11, 1977January 31, 1981Jimmy Carter
Lev E. DobrianskyAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryMarch 15, 1983August 30, 1986Ronald Reagan
Carol Boyd HallettAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryNovember 17, 1986May 10, 1989Ronald Reagan
Mayer Jacob HechtAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryAugust 23, 1989March 1, 1993George H. W. Bush
Lino GutierrezChargé d'Affairs ad interimMarch 1993July 1993Bill Clinton
John S. FordChargé d'Affairs ad interimJuly 1993March 1994Bill Clinton
Sidney WilliamsAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryMarch 27, 1994January 11, 1998Bill Clinton
Arthur Louis SchechterAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryOctober 29, 1998March 1, 2001Bill Clinton
J. Richard BlankenshipAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryDecember 3, 2001July 18, 2003George W. Bush
Robert M. WitajewskiChargé d'Affairs ad interimJuly 2003September 2004George W. Bush
John D. RoodAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiarySeptember 1, 2004April 10, 2007George W. Bush
D. Brent HardtChargé d'Affaires ad interimApril, 2007October 25, 2007George W. Bush
Ned SiegelAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryOctober 26, 2007January 2009George W. Bush
Timothy Zúñiga-BrownChargé d'Affaires ad interimJanuary 2009September 9, 2009Barack Obama
Nicole AvantAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryOctober 22, 2009November 21, 2011Barack Obama
John W. DinkelmanChargé d'AffairesNovember 2011July 2014Barack Obama
Lisa A. JohnsonChargé d'AffairesJuly 9, 2014November 9, 2017Barack Obama
Lisa A. JohnsonChargé d'AffairesJuly 9, 2014November 9, 2017Donald Trump
Stephanie BowersChargé d'AffairesMarch 1, 2018PresentDonald Trump