1947 China Mission

This chapter will discuss the surprising appointment in 1947 of Wedemeyer as a Special Representative of the President for the purpose of making findings and giving recommendations about American foreign policy in China and Korea. I use the word “surprising” because Wedemeyer’s views were well known to the Administration, the State Department and especially General Marshall, now Secretary of State, and they  were so out of step with all of them, as well as the conventional views of the majority of Americans generally, that it was completely unexpected that he would be given this assignment. In order to understand the reasons for the assignment, it will be useful to step back and review the then official post war foreign policy of American toward China, and compare it with Wedemeyer’s often expressed views on the same subject and examine them in the context of public opinion.

 

 

A. C. Wedemeyer