Conrad Alexandre Gérard de Rayneval

Who was Conrad Alexandre Gérard de Rayneval?

Conrad Alexandre Gérard de Rayneval, also known as Conrad Alexandre Gérard, was a French diplomat, born at Masevaux in upper Alsace. He is best known as the first French diplomatic representative to the United States. His brother Joseph Matthias Gérard de Rayneval was also a diplomat.

Conrad Alexandre Gérard served as secretary of the French legation to the Elector Palatine at Mannheim from 1753 to 1759, and secretary of the French Embassy to Austria at Vienna from 1761 to 1766. In July 1766 he was recalled to Paris to become secretary of the Council of State and chief clerk in the Bureau of Foreign Affairs.

Early in 1778, under instructions from Vergennes, he conducted the negotiations with the American representatives, Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, which resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States on February 6, 1778. In March, 1778, he travelled to America, as the first accredited Minister from France to the United States. He sailed in company with Silas Deane aboard the comte d'Estaing's flagship of the seventeen-ship battle fleet transporting four thousand French troops.