Get to Know a Speaker: Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy

Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy is Director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center. He retired from the Foreign Services in January 2001 after a 45-year career with the U.S department of State. A fluent Chinese Speaker, Mr. Stapleton spent much of his Foreign Service Career in East Asia, where his assignment included Bangkok (twice), Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing (Twice), Singapore and Jakarta. He also specialized in Soviet Affairs and served in Moscow during the height of the Cold War. Before taking up Russian studies, he was one of the first two Foreign Service Officers to study Mongolian. 

Mr. Roy rose to become a three time Ambassador, serving as the top U.S envoy in Singapore (1984-1986), the People’s Republic of China (1991-1995), and Indonesia (1996-1999). In 1996, he was promoted to the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the Foreign Service. Ambassador Roy’s final post with the State Department was as the Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research. Ambassador Roy was born in Nanjing, China, of American missionary Parents. In 1956, he graduated Magna Cum laude from Princeton University, where he majored in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.