Ambassador Winston Lord was former U.S. Ambassador to China from 1985 to 1989 and was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in 1993. He is the author of Kissinger on Kissinger: Reflections on Diplomacy, Grand Strategy, and Leadership (St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 2019).
Before assuming his duties, Ambassador Lord had been Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, Vice-Chairman of the International Rescue Committee, and Chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s National Commission on America and the New World. Ambassador Lord was a Foreign Service Officer from 1961-67 and was assigned in Washington to the Congressional relations, political-military, and economic affairs staff, and abroad in Geneva. He also served in the U.S. Government outside the Department of State on the Policy Planning Staff in International Security Affairs at the Defense Department (1967-69), on the National Security Council staff (1969-70), and as a Special Assistant to the National Security Advisor (1970-73). From 1973 to 1977, he was Director of the Policy Planning Staff. From 1977 to 1985, Ambassador Lord was President of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also has been a member of the Asia Society, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the America-China Society, and the Aspen Institute of Distinguished Fellows. Among the awards Ambassador Lord has received are the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award and the Defense Department’s Outstanding Performance Award.
After graduating magna cum laude from Yale University in 1959, Ambassador Lord obtained an M.A. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in 1960. He has received Honorary Doctorate degrees from Williams College, Tufts University, Dominican College, and Bryant College.