John Graham (1774 – August 6, 1820) was an American politician and diplomat. He was born inDumfries, Virginia, and graduated fromColumbia University in 1790. He moved toKentucky and served in theKentucky legislature.

From 1801 to 1803 he served as secretary and chargé d'affaires in the U.S. legation toSpain.

Graham was chief clerk of theState Department from 1807 to 1817 and as such was actingUnited States Secretary of State for five days, from March 4 to March 9, 1817, at the start of the administration of PresidentJames Monroe.^[1] Along withCaesar Augustus Rodney andTheodorick Bland, Graham was selected by Monroe in 1817 as one of three commissioners for a special diplomatic mission toSouth America, theSouth American Commission of 1817-1818.^[2] He served as theU.S. Minister to Portugal atRio de Janeiro from June 24, 1819, to June 13, 1820.^[1]

He died inWashington, D.C., on August 6, 1820. His brother,George Graham, was actingSecretary of War under PresidentsMadison and Monroe.

General

• National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1901), Vol. XI, p. 317.
• Peterson, Harold F.,Argentina and the United States, 1810-1960 (1964), p. 38 ff.
• Beers, Henry Putney,French and Spanish Records of Louisiana (1989), p. 22.

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