This oral history conversation with Shorenstein APARC Fellow Thomas Fingar originally appeared in Peking Hotel, a Substack by Hoover Institution Visiting Fellow Liu He.

A big event this week - other than the wildfires in Los Angeles - is the funeral of Jimmy Carter. While the troupe of US-China relations usually dances around Nixon, Kissinger and Ping-Pong Diplomacy, it is easy to overlook the fact that it is Jimmy Carter who actually managed to normalize US-China relations in 1979 after three decades of mutual isolation. The legacy of that decision remains under debate, especially in the prevailing geopolitical winds, but its significance cannot be doubted.

I’m dedicating this week’s newsletter to Jimmy Carter. One key aspect of Jimmy Carter’s normalization of US-China relations is the opening of the American education system to Chinese students. As a Chinese visiting scholar in the US, I have benefitted from the arrangement going back to the early days of the Carter administration. The famous 3 a.m. phone call between Frank Press and Carter led to an absolute blooming of Chinese students in the US, currently standing at an approximate figure of ~300k. The possibility of studying in the US sent a message of hope and progress to a country reeling from the destructive aftermath of the Cultural Revolution and communist disruptions. True, in the early days (and still today), opportunities to study abroad were limited. Nonetheless, the possibility created aspirations and cooperative spirits among the people of China towards the USA, and provided them with an opportunity to completely transform their own lives.

For this story, I can think of few more qualified to speak than Dr. Thomas Fingar, whom I interviewed back in March 2024. Dr. Fingar is a Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. From 2005 through 2008, he served as the first deputy director of national intelligence for analysis and, concurrently, as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Fingar served previously as assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2000-01 and 2004-05), principal deputy assistant secretary (2001-03), deputy assistant secretary for analysis (1994-2000), director of the Office of Analysis for East Asia and the Pacific (1989-94), and chief of the China Division (1986-89).

For our story today, his most relevant role is perhaps the co-director of the US-China Education Clearinghouse in 1981. The Clearinghouse was an initiative under the National Academy of Sciences in the 1980s that facilitated academic and cultural exchanges between the United States and China, helping students, scholars, and institutions navigate educational collaboration. It served as a central resource for information, logistical support, and partnership-building during a period of rapidly growing bilateral ties in education. Through Dr. Fingar’s personal experience, we get a sneak peek behind the scenes and understand how Chinese students were regularised into the American education system, the hurdles that were overcome, and the generation of China scholars that played an instrumental role in engaging China. We will also touch on Stanford's own history of building bridges with China from the 70s through its influential US-China Relations Program.

Read the full interview, published by Peking Hotel >