The Shanghai Academy of Social Science presented Mr. Nicholas Platt with an award for lifetime contributions to China studies in 2019.
NEW YORK, NY, December 20, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Nicholas Platt with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Mr. Platt celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Before retiring in 1992, Mr. Platt led a successful career as an American diplomat culminating in services as ambassador in Zambia, the Philippines and Pakistan. An expert in U.S.-China relations and Chinese domestic politics, he embarked upon his professional path as a research assistant at the Washington Center for Foreign Policy Research before entering the Foreign Service of the United States in 1959. From 1959 to 1961, he served as vice consul in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Subsequently, Mr. Platt studied the Chinese language at the Foreign Service Institute and in Taichung, Taiwan, from 1962 to 1963.
Mr. Platt's career in foreign service then began to take shape in Hong Kong in 1964 as a China analyst at the U.S. consulate general. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was stationed all over Asia while working in several capacities in Washington during his career in government service, including as a China analyst, the director of Japanese affairs, a national security council staff member for Asian affairs, the deputy assistant secretary of defense, the acting assistant secretary of state for UN Affairs and the executive secretary of the U.S. Department of State. In addition to his full-time commitments, Mr. Platt served as an adjunct professor of Chinese domestic politics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, in 1975.
In 1972, Mr. Platt notably accompanied President Nixon on the historic trip to Beijing that signaled the resumption of relations between the U.S. and China. He was among the first members of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing when the U.S. established a mission in the region in 1973. Years later, he authored the 2010 book "China Boys" through New Academia Publishing LLC, which describes the preparations for the historic visit to China in 1972 and the interplay within the U.S. delegation during the visit itself. Mr. Platt recounts setting up America's first resident diplomatic office in the People's Republic of China, headed by David Bruce, as well as the initial encounters between Americans and Chinese, including Olympic athletes, orchestra maestros, members of congress, airplane manufacturers, bankers, scientists and inner-city youths.
After retirement from governmental services in 1992, Mr. Platt has maintained his involvement with the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Platt was affiliated as a member of the board of directors for Scenic Hudson, an organization that helps citizens and communities preserve land and farms and create parks along the Hudson River in New York. He excelled in the same capacity for Fiduciary Trust International, a U.S.-based wealth management firm, and as a member of the international advisory board of the Financial Times. Since 2011, Mr. Platt has been active as a senior advisor of the Philadelphia Orchestra China Programs.
Mr. Platt participated as a board member for the U.S.-China Education Trust, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that was founded in 1998 by Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, the first Chinese-American U.S. ambassador. He became the fifth president of the Asia Society in New York City, a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia, retiring in 2004.
Born in New York City, Mr. Platt graduated from Saint Paul's School, a preparatory school in New Hampshire. He continued his studies at Harvard University, from which he earned a bachelor's degree, cum laude, in 1957. Mr. Platt concluded his academic efforts at the Johns Hopkins University with a master's degree from the School of Advanced International Studies in 1959.
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