John H. Holdridge

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John Herbert Holdridge (born August 21, 1924 in New York City , † July 12, 2001 in Washington, DC ) was an American diplomat who, among other things, was Ambassador to Singapore from 1975 to 1981, and Assistant Secretary of State from 1981 to 1983 for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and was most recently Ambassador to Indonesia between 1983 and 1986 .

Life

Studies, World War II and the beginning of a diplomatic career

After attending school in 1941, Holdridge first began an undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College , but shortly after switched to the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point to complete an officer training course. Because the USA entered the Second World War after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force on December 7, 1941, he completed this training early in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science (BS). Subsequently, he served from 1942 to 1948 as an officer in the US Army and was last to first lieutenant (First Lieutenant) transported.

After retiring from active military service, Holdridge joined the diplomatic service of the US State Department in 1948 and then studied Chinese languages at Cornell University from 1948 to 1949 , which he continued at Harvard University between 1949 and 1950 . He held his first diplomatic post abroad from 1950 to 1953 as Vice Consul at the Embassy in Thailand and was then consul at the Consulate General in Hong Kong between 1953 and 1956 , before he was consul at the Consulate General in Singapore from 1956 to 1958 . After other subsequent activities, he returned to the Consulate General in Hong Kong in 1962, where he was head of the Political Department until 1966.

China Expert, Ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

After his return to the USA, Holdridge was head of the research and analysis section in the East Asia and Pacific Area of ​​the State Department from 1966 to 1968 and from 1968 to 1973 he was a senior staff member of the USNSC ( National Security Council ) for the Far East. In this capacity he was part of the US delegation on the first secret visit by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger in July 1971 . When it came to the improvement of the Sino-American relations in the course of the so-called ping-pong diplomacy that Richard Nixon as the first US President visited the People's Republic of China in February 1972 , he also belonged to this delegation.

He was then deputy head of the US Mission in the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1975 . On August 5, 1975 he succeeded Edwin M. Cronk Ambassador to Singapore and held this office until June 9, 1978. As successor to Richard Holbrooke , he was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs on May 28, 1981 , whereby he was head of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs . He held this office until December 13, 1982, before Paul Wolfowitz took over the position on December 22, 1982.

Holdridge himself last took over the post of ambassador to Indonesia on February 19, 1983, and remained there until he retired on January 7, 1986.

His marriage to Martha Holdridge had three children. Holdridge died in Washington's Sibley Memorial Hospital of complications from pulmonary fibrosis .

publication

  • Crossing the Divide: An Insider's Account of the Normalization of US-China Relations , Memoirs, 1997, ISBN 0-8476-8505-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Remembering John H. Holdridge on the website of the US-China Policy Foundation (accessed May 30, 2016)
  2. ↑ At this point in time the USA had diplomatic relations with the Republic of China . Official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China were not established until January 1, 1979, the US embassy in Taipei closed on February 28, 1979 and the US embassy in Beijing opened on March 1, 1979.
  3. ↑ Richard F. Kneip , the former democratic governor of South Dakota, was succeeded as ambassador in Singapore on August 7, 1978 .
  4. ↑ Paul Wolfowitz was succeeded as ambassador in Indonesia on April 11, 1986.
personal data
SURNAME Holdridge, John H.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holdridge, John Herbert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 2001
Place of death Washington, DC