Harvey Julien Feldman (June 25, 1931 – February 24, 2009) was an American diplomat best known for planning the

1972 Nixon visit to China From February 21 to 28, 1972, President of the United States Richard Nixon visited Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the culmination of his administration's efforts to establish relations with the PRC after years of ...

Personal life

Feldman was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. He attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

as both an undergraduate and a master's student in Chinese studies, receiving his M.A. in 1954. While still a student in 1952, he married his first wife, Carolina (Carol) Borja Feldman, a classmate at the University of Chicago. Their marriage ended in divorce. After their divorce, she died in 1981. He married his second wife Laura Sherman in 1976.

Career

Feldman served in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

for eight years, Taiwan for six, and Japan for four years. As a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

, he helped plan U.S. president

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

's first visit to China in 1972. He continued involvement with the process of relations with China when he became the Director of the Office of Republic of China Affairs in September 1977. In that capacity, he and Lee Marks began to draft the

Taiwan Relations Act The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA; ) is an Act of Congress, act of the United States Congress. Since the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, formal recognition of the China, People's Republic of China, the Act has defined ...

at the request of

Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...

; the act would be passed into law in 1979. He also created the

American Institute in Taiwan The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT; ) is the ''de facto'' embassy of the United States of America in Taiwan. AIT is a wholly owned subsidiary of the federal government of the United States in Taiwan with Congressional oversight. The AIT was ...

which replaced the U.S. embassy in Taipei after relations were shifted to Beijing. On August 2, 1979, he was appointed to the position of U.S. ambassador to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, resident in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

, the capital of PNG; he held that position until May 25, 1981. He later served as an alternative U.S. representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, an ambassadorial-rank position and his final role in the State Department. He retired in 1986.

Retirement and death

After his retirement, Feldman continued his involvement with China affairs. In 1989, he met with then- ROC president

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; pinyin: ''Lǐ Dēnghuī''; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician and agricultural scientist who served as the fourth president of the Republic of China, president of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan) unde ...

and advised him on potential strategies for helping the ROC to regain membership in the United Nations. In 1994, he became a fellow in China Policy of

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...

, a

conservative think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

. In 2007, he spoke out against remarks by

United States National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the national security council used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and Foreign relations of the United States, foreign policy matter ...

Senior Director for Asian Affairs Dennis Wilder stating that "Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is not at this point a state in the international community"; Feldman responded that U.S. government had no basis under law to oppose ROC membership in international bodies. Outside of his China-related activities, Feldman was also a board member of the

Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), formerly named the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, is a Washington, D.C.–based, non-profit and think tank. History JINSA was founded in 1976, three years after ...

and a partner in consultancy firm Global Business Access. He died on February 24, 2009, at the age of 77 due to complications from

aortic dissection Aortic dissection (AD) occurs when an injury to the innermost layer of the aorta allows blood to flow between the layers of the aortic wall, forcing the layers apart. In most cases, this is associated with a sudden onset of agonizing ches ...

. He was survived by two sons from his marriage to Carol Borja Feldman (Chris Feldman and Peter Feldman), as well as his second wife Laura Sherman and their son Alex Feldman, as well as a sister, three grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.

Works

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feldman, Harvey Julien 1931 births 2009 deaths China–United States relations Deaths from aortic dissection The Heritage Foundation people Diplomats from Brooklyn 20th-century American Jews Ambassadors of the United States to Papua New Guinea Ambassadors of the United States to the Solomon Islands 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American diplomats