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James A. Kelly

American government official (born 1936)

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ6128162 ↗
Source-derived summary

James Andrew Kelly (born September 15, 1936) is an American foreign policy advisor who served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2001 to 2005.

Education

Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Kelly attended Georgia Tech for one year before receiving an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. In 1959, he earned a Bachelor of Science from the Naval Academy. Kelly later earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1968. He graduated from the National War College in 1977.

Career

Kelly served in the United States Navy from 1959 to 1982, concluding his active duty as a Captain in the Navy Supply Corps. From June 1983 to March 1986, Kelly worked at the Pentagon as deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs (East Asia and Pacific). Kelly served special assistant for national security affairs to President Ronald Reagan, and as senior director for Asian affairs on the United States National Security Council from March 1986 to March 1989. From 1989 to 1994, Kelly was president of EAP Associates, Inc., of Honolulu, which provided international business consulting services with an Asia and Pacific focus to private clients.

From 1994 to 2001, Kelly was president of Pacific Forum International, which has analyzed and led dialogue on Asia–Pacific political, security, and economic/business issues since 1975.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “James A. Kelly” as american government official (born 1936). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around James, Kelly and American.

Editorial reviewMost valuable as an event-and-institution map that identifies actors, dates and record creators for deeper historical inquiry. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1936, 2001, 2005, 1959—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1936-09-15. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with James, Kelly and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “James A. Kelly”, the useful work is to connect “american government official (born 1936)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6128162. VIAF identifies the subject as 78129554. The Library of Congress control number is n2001103002. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 2001, 2005 and 1959.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “James A. Kelly”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow James A. Kelly primary sources, James A. Kelly archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “James A. Kelly”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “James A. Kelly” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.