Politics is basically a revolving door, and honestly, keep track of who holds the keys to the State Department is a full-time job. If you’re asking who was secretary of state, you’re likely looking for the person currently sitting at the big desk in the Harry S Truman Building or maybe trying to settle a bet about who just left. Right now, as of early 2026, the answer is Marco Rubio. He took the oath on January 21, 2025, after a historic 99-0 Senate confirmation that happened almost immediately after the inauguration.
It’s wild how fast things change.
Just a year ago, the name on everyone's lips was Antony Blinken. He was the 71st person to hold the job, serving through the entire Biden administration from 2021 until the transition in early 2025. Blinken was the quintessential diplomat—measured, cautious, and deeply steeped in the "old school" way of doing things. He spent his final months in office essentially living on an airplane, trying to broker ceasefires in the Middle East and managing the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Transition That Defined 2025
When people ask who was secretary of state during the big shifts of the mid-2020s, they’re usually pinpointing that friction point between the 71st and 72nd holders of the office. Rubio didn't just walk into a quiet office. He inherited a world that was—to put it mildly—on fire.
The handoff between Blinken and Rubio was actually surprisingly collaborative in a few specific areas. For instance, they worked together during the 2024-2025 transition to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. That’s a detail most people gloss over. We usually think of these transitions as total "scorched earth" events, but in the world of high-stakes diplomacy, there’s sometimes a weirdly pragmatic overlap.
Rubio is the first Hispanic American to hold the post. That’s a big deal.
He came from the Senate, where he’d been a fixture on the Foreign Relations Committee for years. If you followed his career there, you knew exactly what was coming: a massive shift toward a "maximum pressure" stance on China and Iran. He’s also been the primary architect of U.S. policy toward Latin America for a long time, even before he got the official title.
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Looking Back: The Recent Lineup
If you're digging a bit deeper into the history of who was secretary of state over the last decade, the list reads like a "who’s who" of American political heavyweights and some high-profile departures.
- Mike Pompeo (2018–2021): He took over after the Rex Tillerson "experiment" ended. Pompeo was a CIA Director first, and he brought that intensity to the State Department.
- Rex Tillerson (2017–2018): The former ExxonMobil CEO. His tenure was short and, honestly, pretty rocky. It’s a classic example of how being a titan of industry doesn't always translate to navigating the bureaucracy of Foggy Bottom.
- John Kerry (2013–2017): Best known for the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Paris Climate Accord.
- Hillary Clinton (2009–2013): She turned the role into a bit of a rockstar position, traveling more than almost any of her predecessors at the time.
The role itself is the fourth in the line of succession to the presidency. That's a lot of power. It's not just about attending fancy dinners and signing treaties. The Secretary of State is the person who has to tell the President what they need to hear about the rest of the world, not just what they want to hear.
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Why Does It Matter Who Holds the Title?
Kinda obvious, right? But the nuances are where it gets interesting.
The personality of the Secretary often dictates the "mood" of American power abroad. Blinken was about "rebuilding alliances" and "multilateralism"—basically, the diplomatic equivalent of a group project. Rubio, on the other hand, has leaned into a much more assertive, "America First" style of diplomacy that prioritizes bilateral deals and clear-cut confrontation with adversaries.
Take China, for example. Under Blinken, the strategy was "compete where we must, cooperate where we can." Rubio? He’s basically removed the "cooperate" part of that sentence. He views the relationship as an existential competition. If you want to understand why your electronics are getting more expensive or why trade routes are changing, look at the desk of the Secretary of State.
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Practical Steps to Stay Updated
Don't just rely on a quick search every time a news cycle hits. If you want to actually know what's going on with the State Department, here is what you should actually do:
- Follow the "Dissent Channel": This is a real thing. It’s a mechanism where State Department employees can disagree with official policy without getting fired. When cables from the Dissent Channel leak, you’re seeing the real internal struggle of U.S. foreign policy.
- Watch the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: This is where the real grilling happens. If you want to see the Secretary of State actually defend their choices, watch the transcripts of these hearings.
- Check the Daily Press Briefings: The State Department spokesperson holds these almost every day. It’s the fastest way to see the official U.S. stance on a breaking world event.
The question of who was secretary of state is really a question of who is steering the ship of state through international waters. Whether it's the academic approach of a Blinken or the hawkish stance of a Rubio, the person in that office changes the way the rest of the world looks at you—and how you look at the world.