George Taylor was born in Coventry, England, on December 13, 1905, and received degrees in history and politics from the University of Birmingham before coming to the United States in 1928 on a Commonwealth Fund fellowship.
After war broke out in 1937, Taylor spent the summer of 1938 traveling with the Chinese Communist Eighth Route Army, and smuggled medical supplies to them.
Under his leadership the Foreign Morale Analysis Division recruited Clyde Kluckhohn, the Harvard anthropologist, and a team of twenty five others to study Japanese culture in order to formulate policy based on the best understanding.
[5] Under his leadership as director, the Far Eastern and Russia Institute was home to scholars such as Wittfogel, Franz H. Michael, Hsiao Kung-ch’uan, and Chu T’ung-tsu.
As the Chinese Communists gained the upper hand in China, Taylor was among the strongest voices condemning American policy and opposing diplomatic recognition of the new government.