James Roderick Lilley (Brother, Frank Lilley S&B 1943)
Diplomat. CIA. Phillips Exeter Academy. Yale University. George Washington University. Hong Kong University. Columbia University.
2004, Published China Hands. Nine Decades of Adventure, Epsionage, and Diplomacy in Asia by Ambassador James Lilley.[3]
Senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on East Asian relations.
After 3rd June, he arranged for a secret trip by two senior United States officials (Scowcroft and Eagleburger’s) to reassure the Chinese government that the United States wished to continue its relationship with China.[1,1][3] He did so, he later said, out of a belief that the United States “could contribute in constructive ways to a more open China.”[1,2]
3 June 1989 - Tiananmen Square Massacre. Note: The White House response to the Massacre was written by Edward E. Nally (S&B 1979), speechwriter to the President of the United States by President George H. W. Bush (S&B 1948)
President George H. W. Bush (S&B 1948) has a longstanding friendship that began in the early 1970s, when Lilley was the head of station for the CIA in Beijing, and Bush (S&B 1948) was the chief of mission.
He harboured the political dissident Fang Lizhi inside the American embassy for 18 months before the Chinese government allowed Fang to enter exile in the United States.[1,1]
20 Apr 1986 to 10 May 1989 - United States Ambassador to China by President George H. W. Bush (S&B 1948)
Appointed to the National Security Council, where he served as the senior expert on East Asia.[1,2]
1986 to 1989- United States Ambassador to South Korea by President Ronald Reagan (Bohemnian. Freemason). Vice President George H. W. Bush (S&B1948).
From 1985 - Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, Secretary George P. Shultz (Bohemian) by President Ronald Reagan (Bohemian. Freemason). VP George H. W. Bush (S&B1948. Freemason. Bohemian).
1981 to 1984 - Director of the American Institute in Tiawan. Delivered the six assurances to then President Chiang Ching-Kuo.[1,5]
1954 - Married Sally Booth and had three sons.
1951 - Joined the CIA, at the beginning of the cold war.
During Lilley’s army service, his older brother 18-year-old Frank Lilley (S&B 1943), whom he revered and who was a soldier stationed in Hiroshima, Japan, committed suicide. Lilley dedicated his 2004 memoir, “China Hands,” to his brother, who “died young and pure so that we could carry on.”[2]
Died 12 Nov 2009, from Prostate Cancer. Age 81.
NOTE: His father, an oil executive had moved to China to work for Standard Oil (Rockefeller) in 1916.[3]
[1,2] - 14 Nov 2009 - NY Times - James R. Lilley, 81, Envoy in Tiananmen Era, Dies
[2] - 16 Nov 2009 - LA Times - James Lilley dies at 81; ambassador to China and CIA operative
[3] - China Hands by James Roberick Lilley
[4] - Find a Grave - James Lilley
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