Nanking Letters 1949

Knight Biggerstaff, February 28, 1906 - May 19, 2001. Knight Biggerstaff was born on February 28, 1906 in Berkeley, California. He graduated from the UNiversity of California at Berkeley in 1927 and received his master's degree and doctorate from Harvard. He then traveled to China to study at Yenching University in Bejing.

Biggerstaff was a China specialist in the State Department during the second World War and acted as an interpretor during peace talks. In 1945, he engaged in negotiations that involved the Chinese Nationalist Leader, Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist leaders, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. He was credited with helping prepare George Marshall's plan for a compromise between the two sides. Biggerstaff was falsely accused a Communist in the McCarthy scare when the agreement fell apart, but eventually cleared his name. Biggerstaff was the head of the department of Asian studies at Cornell University from 1946 to 1956 and the head of the history department from 1956 to 1963.

Knight Biggerstaff died in Ithaca, New York on May 19, 2001 at the age of 95.