Duties and responsibilities

The Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress have constitutional responsibilities for U.S. foreign policy. Within the Executive Branch, the Department of State is the lead U.S. foreign affairs agency, and its head, the Secretary of State, is the President's principal foreign policy advisor, though other officials or individuals may have more influence on their foreign policy decisions. The Department advances U.S. objectives and interests in the world through its primary role in developing and implementing the President's foreign policy. The Department also supports the foreign affairs activities of other U.S. Government entities including the United States Department of Commerce and the U.S. Agency for International Development. It also provides an array of important services to U.S. citizens and to foreigners seeking to visit or immigrate to the U.S.

All foreign affairs activities—U.S. representation abroad, foreign assistance programs, countering international crime, foreign military training programs, the services the Department provides, and more—are paid for by the foreign affairs budget, which represents little more than 1% of the total federal budget, or about 12 cents a day for each American citizen. As stated by the Department of State, its purpose includes:

• Protecting and assisting U.S. citizens living or traveling abroad;
• Assisting U.S. businesses in the international marketplace;
• Coordinating and providing support for international activities of other U.S. agencies (local, state, or federal government), official visits overseas and at home, and other diplomatic efforts.
• Keeping the public informed about U.S. foreign policy and relations with other countries and providing feedback from the public to administration officials.
• Providing automobile registration for non-diplomatic staff vehicles and the vehicles of diplomats of foreign countries having diplomatic immunity in the United States.

***

The Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State are official entertainment spaces for use of the Secretary of State, Vice President and Cabinet members. Located in the Harry S Truman building in Washington, DC, the Diplomatic Reception Rooms house a museum-quality collection of furnishings that highlight the nation’s history and heritage while providing the setting to engage foreign dignitaries. The rooms and the collection– all gifts of the American people —benefit American statesmanship by providing a background for modern diplomacy.
Today, the 42 rooms contain 5000 masterpieces of fine and decorative arts valued over $100,000,000 from the founding period of our country, 1740-1840. Each year, these rooms are host to more than 300 official events and are visited by more than 60,000 people. No tax dollars are expended to maintain and preserve the collection. Instead, the collection is funded by charitable contributions of private citizens, foundations and corporations.

The mission of the curatorial office of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms is to employ the fine arts in support of the diplomatic arts by providing an elegant and historically evocative suite of rooms within which American and foreign leaders can establish friendships, exchange ideas, and tend to the aspirations and afflictions of a dynamic world.

In 1961, when the Diplomatic Reception Rooms first opened, the modern spaces were sparsely appointed with government-issued furniture. Shortly after the rooms were used for the first time, Mr. Clement Conger began the Americana Project, which transformed the modern spaces over the span of 30 years into period settings reflecting American architecture of 1740-1840.

Masterpieces of American fine and decorative arts from the collection include paintings, sculpture, furniture, silver and glassware. Chosen for their historical associations and quality of craftsmanship, these objects demonstrate the richness of American history to diplomatic guests. More than 380 objects in the collection are associated with historic events relating to the founding of the country and to leading figures of the colonial and republican periods.

Among these national treasures is this Tambour Writing Table, where on September 3, 1783 Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay signed the Treaty of Paris (1783)

This writing table has an extraordinary historic association. Tradition maintains that it served for the signing of the treaty that formally established American independence. It was among the furnishings that David Hartley brought to Paris in 1783.

The first impression guests and visitors have of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms is the Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall, dedicated to the talented architect who transformed the main reception rooms. The room was modeled after that in the drawing room at Marmion, an 18th-century house in King George County, Virginia.

The Faux Marble pilasters and cornices create an aura of opulence. These rooms contain marble busts of George Washington, John Jay, and the Marquis de Lafayette, as well as fine examples of furniture made in the last half of the 18th century in Boston and Philadelphia.

The John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room, in which the Secretary of State receives guests at state luncheons and dinners, is furnished with masterpieces of 18th-century cabinetmakers.

Among the important furnishings are Paul Revere silver, Chinese export porcelain once the property of George Washington, and the desk on which the Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolution, was signed in 1783. Walls of raised panels with hand carved architectural details display portraits of John Quincy Adams and his wife, Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, John Jay, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay.

The largest of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms was named after the "Father of the American Foreign Service," Benjamin Franklin. It was redesigned architecturally in the classical manner by John Blatteau and completed in 1985.

This monumental room has free-standing scagliola Corinthian columns along the room's long walls and engaged columns along the short walls. At the end of the room hangs a portrait of Benjamin Franklin painted by David Martin in London, 1767. Gilding has been used to heighten the decorative plaster ornament of the entablature and the coffered cove above the entablature. The Great Seal of the United States, depicted in plaster and gilt, decorates the center of the ceiling, along with eight Adam-style cut-glass chandeliers.

The floor is covered with a Savonnerie-style carpet, made for the room with design elements including the Great Seal of the United States, symbols of the four important crops of the early Republic, the four seasons, and in the field 50 stars representing the States of the Union. This State Dining room is the primary room used to entertain both foreign and American guests.

The Thomas Jefferson State Reception Room is considered to be a masterpiece of neoclassic design with perfect proportions, a Doric entablature, pedimented glass doors, triple-sash windows, and an 18th-century Cararra marble mantle. Flanking the Boston mirror over the mantel are four paintings depicting American scenes. On the upper tier are 18th-century views of Baltimore and the Great Falls of the Potomac; in the lower tier are an early view of the Capitol painted in 1844 by William MacLeod and a marine painting by Fitzhugh Lane in 1852.

The room is furnished with American Chippendale furniture from New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. The Jefferson Room, although primarily used as a reception room, is an elegant and intimate room when used by the Secretary of State for smaller official luncheons and dinners.

Started in 1965 by architect Edward Vason Jones, the Gallery was the first project in the renovation of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. The design for the room incorporates at each end Palladian windows inspired by Philadelphia houses of Thomas Jefferson's time, notably Mount Pleasant and Cliveden.

This room serves as a gallery for portraits, landscape paintings, and American Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture with emphasis on blockfront furniture by John Townsend and John Goddard of Newport, Rhode Island. A Baktiari rug, c. 1910, and a rug from northwest Persia, c. 1900, are two of the floor coverings. The cut-glass chandelier is a fine English example of the rococo style, c. 1770.

The Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the Department of State, which are used for official functions hosted by the Secretary of State and other high level government officials, are open for pre-arranged tours at no charge. These rooms hold a premier collection of 18th century American furniture, paintings and decorative arts. Guided tours are conducted Monday through Friday at 9:30 am, 10:30 am, and 2:45 pm. Tours are 45 minutes in duration. Reservations are required and should be made approximately 90 days in advance, due to the large volume of requests. This is a fine arts tour. We do not recommend the tour for children under the age of 12. Strollers are not permitted and there are no facilities for storage of personal belongings. Wheelchairs as well as sign language interpreters are available upon request with advance notice. Please indicate your requirement in the additional comments section of the form prior to submitting your request. Reservations for tours may be requested by clicking the "REQUEST A TOUR" link above left. You will receive an email that your request was received by the tour office and is pending approval. Or by phone.
Glossary:
Special envoy	Посол для специальных поручений
United States Mint	Монетный двор США
The Great Seal of the United States	Большая Гербовая Печать США
Taking of the census	Проведение переписи населения
Array of services	Спектр услуг
Charitable contributions	Благотворительные взносы
Countering international crime	Борьба с международной преступностью
Historically evocative	Пробуждающий воспоминания об исторических событиях, рождающий исторические ассоциации
Diplomatic immunity	Дипломатическая неприкосновенность
Scagliola	Скальола, искусственный мрамор
Chippendale	Чиппендейл (стиль английской мебели 18 века)
Free-standing column	Свободностоящая колонна
Engaged column	Колонна, частично входящая в стену
Cut-glass	Хрустальный

Дата добавления: 2015-07-19