Knight Biggerstaff (; 1906–2001) was an American historian of China.

Education

Biggerstaff was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

and graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1927. He received his Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1934. He was the first Harvard-Yenching Fellow to study at

Yenching University Yenching University () was a Private university, private research university in Beijing, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" come ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, and later a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow and a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

Career

Biggerstaff served the U.S. State Department as a China expert during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, becoming the Chinese language secretary at the U.S. embassy in

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

. In 1946, he assisted ultimately unsuccessful U.S. efforts to construct a peace plan to avert the

Chinese civil war The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

. In the 1950s, in part because of his status as an expert on China, he was branded a communist sympathizer by Senator

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age ...

, an accusation which took years to fight off - a feat at which he was ultimately successful. Much of his academic career was spent at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he chaired the Department of Asian Studies from 1946 to 1956, helping to create the university's China (now East Asia) and Southeast Asia programs. He also chaired Cornell's history department from 1956 to 1963. Biggerstaff also helped to launch a quarterly journal, now ''

The Journal of Asian Studies ''The Journal of Asian Studies'' is the flagship journal of the Association for Asian Studies, publishing peer-reviewed academic scholarship in the field of Asian studies. Its acceptance rate is approximately 6%. Each issue circulates over 8,20 ...

''.

External links

Cornell obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggerstaff, Knight Cornell University Department of History faculty 1906 births 2001 deaths Harvard University alumni Writers from Berkeley, California University of California, Berkeley alumni