High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

The high commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was an official who administered the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), a United Nations trusteeship in the Pacific Ocean under the administration of the United States, between 1947 and 1994. The territory consisted of islands captured by America during World War II, prior to which they had been part of the Empire of Japan as the South Seas Mandate, within the Japanese colonial empire. After World War II, United Nations Security Council Resolution 21 placed the territory under the United States trusteeship as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The islands are now part of Palau, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Marshall Islands.

High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
The seal of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
Longest serving
Edward E. Johnston

1 May 1969–1 July 1976
SeatSaipan
AppointerPresident of the United States
PrecursorGovernor of the South Seas Mandate
Formation18 July 1947
First holderLouis E. Denfeld
Final holderJanet J. McCoy
Abolished10 July 1987
SuccessionGovernor of the South Seas Mandate
Location of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (bordered in red) in the Pacific Ocean.
Map of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1961.
TTPI High Commissioner and staff, 1960s.

List

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The following is a list of the high commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, as well as their predecessors during the American occupation of the territory between 1944 and 1947.

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Term of office
Took office Left office Time in office
  United States Navy control
Military Governor
1   John H. Hoover
(1887–1970)
March 1944 19 June 1944 3 months
Military Governor and   CINCPACFLT
2   Chester W. Nimitz
(1885–1966)
19 June 1944 24 November 1945 1 year, 158 days
3   Raymond A. Spruance
(1885–1969)
24 November 1945 3 February 1946 71 days
4   John H. Towers
(1885–1955)
3 February 1946 28 February 1947 1 year, 25 days
5   Louis E. Denfeld
(1891–1972)
28 February 1947 18 July 1947 140 days
  Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
High Commissioner and   CINCPACFLT
1[a]   Louis E. Denfeld
(1891–1972)
18 July 1947 17 April 1948 274 days
2   DeWitt Clinton Ramsey
(1888–1961)
17 April 1948 1 May 1949 1 year, 14 days
3   Arthur W. Radford
(1896–1973)
1 May 1949 6 January 1951 1 year, 250 days
High Commissioner
4   Elbert D. Thomas
(1883–1953)
6 January 1951 11 February 1953 † 2 years, 36 days
5 Frank E. Midkiff
(1887–1983)
13 March 1953 1 September 1954 1 year, 172 days
  Delmas H. Nucker
(1907–1985)
1 September 1954 November 1956 6 years, 242 days
6 November 1956 1 May 1961
7   Maurice W. Goding
(1911–1989)
1 May 1961 27 May 1966 5 years, 26 days
William R. Norwood
(1909–1981)
27 May 1966 1 August 1966 2 years, 339 days
8 1 August 1966 1 May 1969
9   Edward E. Johnston
(1918–2011)
1 May 1969 1 July 1976 7 years, 61 days
  Peter Tali Coleman
(1919–1997)
1 July 1976 February 1977 7 months
James Boyd Mackenzie
(1918–1978)
February 1977 9 July 1977 5 months
10   Adrian P. Winkel
(1915–1994)
9 July 1977 1981 3–4 years
Daniel Joseph High
(born 1938)
1981 December 1981 0 years
11 Janet J. McCoy
(1916–1995)
December 1981 10 July 1987 5 years, 7 months
Director of the Office of Transition
12 Charles D. Jordan 3 November 1986 30 September 1991 4 years, 331 days

Palau

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Notes

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  1. ^ Numbering restarted for civil (rather than military) office.

See also

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References

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