In August 1969, Dr. Shih-Chieh Wang, the late President of Academia Sinica, realizing the importance of American Cultural Studies, proposed the establishment of an institute for American Studies in the Republic of China with the help of the Sino-American Cooperation Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences. As a result, the Center for American Studies was founded on March 12, 1972. In July 1974, the Center was officially incorporated as the Institute of American Culture, Academia Sinica.