The Eagle and the Dragon: Contact and Impasse in Sino-American Relations

After studying as an undergraduate in China and Paris, Ambassador Kenneth T. Young received his B.A. in 1939 from Harvard University, where he specialized in Far Eastern languages and social science. His M.A. was from Harvard university, in international law and relations. After World War II, Ambassador Young served in the State Department as director of the office of Northeast Asian Affairs and then as director of Southeast Asian Affairs. He attended the Japanese Peace Conference, served as Deputy United States Representative at the Panmunjom talks in 1953-54, and was present at the Geneva conference on Korea and Indochina in 1954 and the Summit Conference in 1955. Ambassador Young was a member of the United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1952-53 and 1956. During 1961-63, Ambassador Young was Ambassador to Thailand and and United States Representative on the SEATO Council in Bangkok. In 1964 he was United States Representative and chief of Delegation to the annual session of the United Nations economic commission for Asia and the far East. He is now president of the Asia Society, a private, philanthropic organization for promoting Asian-American understanding and cooperation. He has published a number of books and articles on southeast Asia and is now completing a study of "United States Negotiations and Contacts with Communist China, 1954-1966" for the Council on Foreign Relations. Part of the World Affairs Series: The Problem of China