United States Ambassador to China (1981 to 1985), Arthur Hummel Jr., owned this house when he passed away in 2001. He negotiated the Taiwan Arms Pact in 1982. The pact limited the amount of arms the United States sold to Taiwan and in turn China pledged to seek peaceful reunification with Taiwan. Diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and the United States had only officially been reinstated during the Carter administration and the pact was considered a masterful piece of negotiating by Hummel.