Winston Lord

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Winston Lord (born in New York City on August 14, 1937) is a United States diplomat and administrator. He served as the president of the Council on Foreign Relations between 1977 and 1985.

Lord was a key figure in the restoration of relations between the United States and China in 1972. From 1969–73, as a member of the National Security Council’s planning staff, he was an aide to National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, accompanying him on his secret trip to Beijing in 1971. The following year, he was part of the U.S. delegation during President Nixon’s historic visit to China. Later, Lord became the State Department’s top policy adviser on China (1973–77), the United States Ambassador to China (1985–1989), and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during President Clinton’s first term.

His mother was Mary Pillsbury Lord, served for eight years as United States Delegate to the United Nations and U.S. Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Commission and recipient of the International Rescue Committee’s Freedom Award. He is married to author Bette Bao Lord.

Lord graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 1959 and obtained an M.A. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1960. He has received Honorary Doctorate degrees from Williams College, Tufts University, Dominican College, and Bryant College. He is a member of Skull and Bones.

Preceded by Arthur W. Hummel, Jr.

US Ambassador to China 1985–1989

Succeeded by James R. Lilley

[edit] External links

Winston Lord has been interviewed as part of Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, a site at the Library of Congress.