List of ambassadors of the United States to the Netherlands
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The United States diplomatic mission to the Netherlands consists of the embassy located in The Hague and a consular office located in Amsterdam.
Ambassador of the United States to the Netherlands | |
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Ambassadeur van de Verenigde Staten in Nederland | |
Seat | Embassy of the United States, The Hague |
Nominator | The President of the United States |
Inaugural holder | John Adams as Minister Plenipotentiary |
Formation | April 19, 1782 |
Website | nl.usembassy.gov |
In 1782, John Adams was appointed America's first Minister Plenipotentiary to Holland. According to the United States Department of State, the same year came formal recognition by the Netherlands of the United States as a separate and independent nation, along with badly needed financial help that indicated faith in its future. These loans from the United Provinces, which have been called "the Marshall Plan in reverse," were the first the new government received. Adams purchased a home in the Hague at Fluwelen Burgwal 18 (located within Uilebomen, The Hague Center), as the first U.S. embassy.[1]
The current American Embassy building in The Hague opened on January 29, 2018.[2] Notable Americans such as former Presidents Adams and John Quincy Adams, General Hugh Ewing and Iraq Envoy L. Paul Bremer have held the title of Ambassador.
Besides the embassy, a U.S. consulate-general is located on Curaçao which is responsible for the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean.[3] This consulate is not part of the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Netherlands.
April 19, the day John Adams presented his credentials in the Hague, was declared by President Ronald Reagan to be memorialized as "Dutch-American Friendship Day".[4]