Nicholas Platt
{{Short description|American diplomat}}
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{infobox officeholder
| name = Nicholas Platt
| image = Nicholas Platt and Ronald Reagan 1982.jpg
| caption = Nicholas Platt, center, with his wife Sheila and President Reagan, 1982
| ambassador_from = United States
| country = Pakistan
| president = George H. W. Bush
| term_start = 1991
| term_end = 1992
| predecessor = Robert B. Oakley
| successor = John Cameron Monjo
| ambassador_from1 = United States
| country1 = the Philippines
| president1 = Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
| term_start1 = 1987
| term_end1 = 1991
| predecessor1 = Stephen W. Bosworth
| successor1 = Frank G. Wisner
| ambassador_from2 = United States
| country2 = Zambia
| president2 = Ronald Reagan
| term_start2 = 1982
| term_end2 = 1984
| predecessor2 = Frank G. Wisner
| successor2 = Paul J. Hare
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|3|10}}
| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.
| alma_mater = Harvard College
Johns Hopkins SAIS
| spouse = {{marriage|Sheila Maynard|June 28, 1957}}
| children = 3, including Oliver and Adam
| years_active =
| occupation = Diplomat
| relatives =
| office5 = 11th Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State
| term_start5 = 1985
| term_end5 = 1987
| preceded5 = Charles Hill
| succeeded5 = Melvyn Levitsky
}}
Nicholas Platt (born March 10, 1936) is an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Pakistan, Philippines, Zambia, and as a high level diplomat in Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Japan. He is the former president of the Asia Society in New York City.{{cite news |last1=Whitehead |first1=Kate |title=Interview: Nicholas Platt and his famous sons, The West Wing's Oliver and restaurant critic Adam, talk about food politics |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1766928/interview-nicholas-platt-and-his-famous-sons-west-wings |work=South China Morning Post |date=April 18, 2015 |language=en|archivedate=August 5, 2020|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200805080540/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1766928/interview-nicholas-platt-and-his-famous-sons-west-wings|url-status=live}}
Early years
Platt was born in New York City on March 10, 1936. He is the son of Helen (née Choate) Platt and architect Geoffrey Platt.{{cite web |title=Nicholas Platt |url= https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/member/nicholas-platt/|publisher=The American Academy of Diplomacy | accessdate =May 31, 2019|archivedate= August 4, 2020|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200804120758/https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/member/nicholas-platt/|url-status=live}}
His maternal grandfather was Joseph H. Choate Jr.,{{cite news |title=Joseph H. Choate, Lawyer, 91, Dead. Led Federal Unit to Guide Liquor Industry at Repeal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/01/20/archives/joseph-h-choate-lawyer-91-dead-led-federal-unit-to-guide-liquor.html |quote=Joseph H. Choate Jr., a distinguished lawyer who was chairman of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration from 1933 to 1935, died today in his home on ... |work=New York Times |date=January 20, 1968 |accessdate=2010-11-04 }} and his great-grandfather was diplomat and lawyer Joseph Hodges Choate, who was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1899 by President William Mckinley. Joseph's brother, William Gardner Choate, established Choate Rosemary Hall.
Platt graduated from the prep school St. Paul's School, Harvard College (B.A., 1957) and Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (M.A., 1959). At Harvard, he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the Porcellian Club. He is articulate in the Chinese, German, French, and Japanese languages.
Career
Platt began his career as a research assistant at the Washington Center for Foreign Policy Research before entering the Foreign Service of the United States in 1959. Reportedly, he was inspired to join the Foreign Service by his great-grandfather, Ambassador Joseph Hodges Choate. From 1959 to 1961, he served as vice consul in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. From 1962 to 1963, he studied the Chinese language at the Foreign Service Institute and in Taichung, Taiwan. In 1964, he was assigned as political officer at the American consulate general in Hong Kong until 1968, when he became China desk officer in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
From 1969 to 1971, Platt was chief of the Asian Communist Areas Division of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. In 1971–1973, he served as Deputy Director, and then Director, of the Secretariat Staff in the Department of State. As a young diplomat, Platt accompanied President Richard Nixon on the historic trip to Beijing in 1972 that signaled the resumption of relations between the U.S. and China.
Platt was assigned as chief of the political section, U.S. Liaison Office, Peking, China, 1973–1974, and then as deputy chief of the political section at the Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, 1974–1977. He returned to Washington to serve as Director for Japanese Affairs in 1977 and then served as a staff member on the National Security Council at the White House from 1978 to 1980. From 1980 to 1981, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense. From 1981 to 1982, he returned to the Department of State as Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Organization Affairs.
Ambassador Platt shared his career experiences through several oral histories that he shared with the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and are now available as part of Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection, first in [https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Platt,%20Nicholas.toc.pdf 1994] and again in [https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Platt-Nick.pdf 2005].{{Cite web |date=7 March 2005 |title=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR NICHOLAS PLATT |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Platt-Nick.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240703173646/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Platt-Nick.pdf |archive-date=3 July 2024 |access-date=31 July 2024 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}}
=Ambassadorships=
On July 22, 1982, President Reagan appointed Platt to succeed Frank G. Wisner as the U.S. Ambassador to Zambia. He presented his credentials on August 31, 1982 and served until he left his post on December 17, 1984 to become the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and Executive Secretary of the U.S. Department of State. Platt stayed as Executive Secretary until February 13, 1987.
On August 10, 1987, he was again appointed by Reagan as the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, succeeding Stephen W. Bosworth.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=TWcVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QwsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3445,4786458&dq=ambassador+nicholas-platt&hl=en|title=Mace Rule Violated In Platt's 2nd Visit|date=August 27, 1987|work=Manila Standard|accessdate=July 6, 2010}} Platt presented his credentials on August 27, 1987 and served in this role through George H. W. Bush's election as president until he left his post on July 20, 1991, after receiving his subsequent appointment by President Bush, when he was replaced by Wisner.
On July 2, 1991, President Bush appointed Platt to succeed Robert B. Oakley as the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan in Islamabad,{{cite web|url=http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/pakistan/former_ambassadors.html|title=Former Ambassadors - Nicholas Platt|publisher=United States Department of State|accessdate=July 6, 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202232415/http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/pakistan/former_ambassadors.html|archivedate=February 2, 2014}} where he remained until he left his post on November 3, 1992.{{cite web |title=Nicholas Platt - People - Department History - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/platt-nicholas |publisher=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State |accessdate= May 31, 2019|archivedate=August 5, 2020|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200805074844/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/platt-nicholas|url-status=live}} He was succeeded as Ambassador by John Cameron Monjo.
=Later career=
Following his retirement from the State Department, in 1992 Platt began serving as the fifth president of Asia Society, a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. He also was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and was a member of the International Advisory Board of the Financial Times.{{cite web |title=Nick Platt |url=https://www.us-iran.org/nick-platt|publisher=American Iranian Council |accessdate=May 31, 2019|archivedate=August 4, 2020| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804104601/https://www.us-iran.org/nick-platt|url-status=live}}
Personal life
On June 28, 1957,{{cite news |title=Heningham A. Duell Fiancee of Officer; Nicholas Platt to Wed Sheila Maynard |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/04/15/84912004.pdf |accessdate=May 31, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=15 April 1957}} he married Sheila Maynard at the Protestant Episcopal Church in Rhinebeck, New York.{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=Sheila Maynard Married Upstate; Attended by 4 at Wedding in Rhinebeck to Nicholas Platt, Harvard Alumnus |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/06/29/91155592.pdf |accessdate=May 31, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=29 June 1957}} Sheila was a clinical social worker who worked in Islamabad.{{cite news |title=Weddings; Camilla Campbell, Oliver Platt |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DA1739F930A2575AC0A964958260 |work=The New York Times |date=1992-09-13 |accessdate=2008-03-10}} She was the daughter of Eileen (née Burden) and investment banker Walter Maynard (son of Walter E. Maynard), and the maternal-granddaughter of banker and equestrian Arthur Scott Burden, and the Hon. Cynthia Burke Roche.{{cite news |title=Sheila Platt 1936-2018 [death notice]|url= https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=sheila-platt&pid=189081960&fhid=2058 |work=The New York Times |date=May 23, 2018|archivedate=August 4, 2020|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200804141359/https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=sheila-platt&pid=189081960&fhid=2058|url-status=live}}
- Adam Platt, a restaurant critic for New York Magazine.
- Oliver Platt (b. 1960), an actor.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=FFg1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jiUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=482,3407141&dq=oliver+nicholas-platt&hl=en|title=Two Pinoy Christmases|date=February 26, 2004|newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|accessdate=July 6, 2010}}
- Nicholas Platt Jr.
He frequently spends his summers in North Haven, Maine.{{Cite news|last1=Hassan|first1=Adeel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/us/north-carolina-and-maine-coronavirus.html|title=Islands in the U.S. Are Barring All Outsiders to Keep Coronavirus at Bay|date=2020-03-17|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-19|last2=MacFarquhar|first2=Neil|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.asiasociety.org/video/countries-history/china-boys-complete Video: Nicholas Platt discusses his book 'China Boys'] Asia Society, New York, 4/13/2010
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{{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to Zambia|before=Frank G. Wisner|after=Paul J. Hare|years=1982–1984}}
{{Succession box|title=United States Ambassador to the Philippines|before=Stephen W. Bosworth|after=Frank G. Wisner|years=1987–1991}}
{{Succession box|title=United States Ambassador to Pakistan|before=Robert B. Oakley|after=John Cameron Monjo|years=1991–1992}}
{{S-end}}
{{US Ambassadors to the Philippines}}
{{US Ambassadors to Pakistan}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, Nicholas}}
Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Zambia
Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Philippines
Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Pakistan
Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni
Category:United States Department of Defense officials
Category:St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni
Category:Diplomats from New York City