Claude Albert Buss (29 November 1903 – 17 November 1998) was a professor emeritus of history and a key American diplomat in the Philippines during World War II. Although not formally counted as one of the State Department's "China Hands", he was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Peiping and Nanjing prior to the war, and served in multiple U.S. government and policy advisory positions covering East Asia for almost seven decades. As an academic, he taught at the University of Southern California, Stanford University, and the Naval Postgraduate School. Buss authored multiple texts which became standard reference works in the field of East Asian studies, and influenced generations of American civilian and military leaders and policy makers working in and around East Asia.