UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A CNN viewer wants to know when were passports first used in international travel?</s>ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: The earliest U.S. passport was issued in France, back on December 27, 1778. Passports were not required in most countries around the world until 1914, with the exception of brief periods during wartime. According to the U.S. Passport Office, here at the State Department, until World War I -- which lasted five years between 1914 and 1918 -- many European countries abolished all passport requirements by mutual consent. Of course, there were passports issued for specific missions, trips, or during wartime, going back to the Colonial times.
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