Conference: “Clandestine Operations Against China During the Early Cold War” (Sept. 21, 2023)
Join the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, the Center for the Study of Asia, and the Kilachand Honors College for a conference titled
Clandestine Operations Against China during the Early Cold War
This conference will, in part, honor the service and sacrifice of CIA officer Richard “Dick” Fecteau, a Lynn, MA, native and Boston University alumnus.
The conference will be a hybrid event, combining in-person participation with remote webinar attendance. The half-day conference will be held in the first-floor common room of Boston University’s Kilachand Honors College (91 Bay State Road) on Thursday, September 21, 2023. The full conference agenda is below.
This conference is convened by Prof. John Woodward, in his capacity as a Pardee Center Faculty Research Fellow. Delta Phi Epsilon, the BU chapter of the International Business and Foreign Service society, is providing logistical and operational support for this conference.
Please register to attend HERE.
About Richard Fecteau:
Richard “Dick” Fecteau, a Massachusetts hero, is one of the CIA’s most highly decorated officers. He spent twenty years in a Communist Chinese prison enduring horrible conditions when a CIA clandestine operation into China, in which he was a participant, went horribly wrong in 1952. The Chinese released Fecteau from prison in 1972. He retired from the CIA and became an assistant athletic director at BU in 1976. Upon his retirement from BU, he enjoys a quiet retirement in his hometown. On September 23, BU will honor Mr. Fecteau with its highest alumni award at a banquet on campus.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:
12:30-1:00 pm: Registration
1:00-1:10 pm: Welcome
Amb. Jorge Heine (BU Pardee School; Pardee Center Interim Director)
1:10-2:00 pm: “Setting the Stage: The Early Cold War”
Prof. June Grasso (BU College of General Studies)
2:00-2:50 pm: “Secret Missions Against China in the 1950s”
Prof. Thomas Christensen (Columbia University)
2:50-3:10 pm: Break
3:10-4:00 pm: “The Service and Sacrifice of Richard Fecteau”
Dr. Nicholas Dujmovic (Retired CIA Deputy Chief Historian)
4:00-4:50 pm: Panel of BU Alumni: “Working with Dick Fecteau”
Panel Chair: Jack Parker (Former BU Men’s Ice Hockey Coach)
4:50-5:00 pm: Concluding Remarks
Prof. John Woodward (BU Pardee School)