U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands

In August 2009 Fay Hartog Levin (60) was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. Before Hartog Levin was chosen to represent the US in the Netherlands, she was a lawyer for more than twenty years. She was also on the board of Chicago's Field Museum (of natural history) and until recently worked as a consultant for the Res Publica Group, a communications and public relations firm. Fay Hartog Levin is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Russian language and literature. She received her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law.

The ambassador has Dutch roots and ties to president Barack Obama that go back to his days as a state senator in Illinois. She is also connected to the president through her husband, Daniel Levin, who founded a real estate firm, The Habitat Company.

Hartog-Levin's parents were Dutch Jews who lived in The Hague and owned a meat-processing factory in the city of Oss. When World War II broke out, they fled to Suriname, then a Dutch colony, where her father served in the Dutch army. In 1948 the family emigrated to the US, where daughter Fay was born shortly afterwards.

She has spoken with appreciation of the Dutch role in economic development in Afghanistan. ...the Netherlands is not only "very experienced in the field of development aid", but is has also done "important work" in Afghanistan. While the Dutch government plans to terminate its military mission to Uruzgan Province after 2010, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Jan Peter Balkenende indicated the government will consider other ways to participate in Afghanistan.

During her time in the Netherlands, she plans to pay attention to young people and Muslims, saying "The US is not the enemy of the Islamic world". It was not observed how this would appeal to Dutch public opinion.

Previous ambassadors

 * See U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands/Catalogs for a complete list

The list is extremely long, beginning with John Adams in 1781. Nevertheless, information on the recent ones may be useful. The Ambassadorship has been vacant at times, but Charges d'affaires ad interim are not included.

{| class="wikitable" ! Name ! Dates ! Notes
 * Robert J. McCloskey
 * 1976-1978
 * Yes
 * Geri M. Joseph
 * 1978-1881
 * No
 * William Jennings Dyess
 * 1982-1983
 * Yes
 * L. Paul Bremer
 * 1983-1986
 * Yes
 * John Shad
 * 1987-1989
 * No
 * C. Howard Wilkins, Jr.
 * 1989-1992
 * No
 * K. Terry Dornbush
 * 1994-1998
 * No
 * Cynthia Perin Schneider
 * 1998-2001
 * No
 * Clifford Sobel
 * 2001-2005
 * No
 * Ronald Arnall
 * 2006-2008
 * No
 * 1998-2001
 * No
 * Clifford Sobel
 * 2001-2005
 * No
 * Ronald Arnall
 * 2006-2008
 * No
 * 2006-2008
 * No