893.24/1541

Memorandum by Mr. Troy L. Perkins of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs

Additional Recent Statements by Prominent Americans Promising Aid and Making Other Commitments to China

Lieutenant General J. W. Stilwell:

On July 2, 1942 General Stilwell sent the following telegram to Mr. Paul G. Hoffman, National Chairman of United China Relief, New York City:

“I have seen the Chinese fighting and I have heard them talking about America. And in their bitter, relentless struggle I know how much they are looking to us Americans for our help and support and encouragement. Some of our men are fighting in China now and more will be coming. Some of the planes and guns Americans are making now will be used by Chinese on Chinese soil.”

Mr. Lauchlin Currie: 13

In an address at Chungking before the Chinese-American Institute of Cultural Relations on July 30, 1942, Mr. Currie, Administrative Assistant to the President, according to press reports, said:

“Japan knows and fears our ability to fulfill our pledge to deliver to China’s veteran armies and experienced generals the striking power that will turn your long and glorious war of resistance into the offensive campaigns that lead to final victory.

“With that pledge I can fittingly close for the pledge was given by President Roosevelt himself when he said, ‘I want to say to the gallant people of China that no matter what advances the Japanese may make ways will be found to deliver airplanes and munitions of war to the armies of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.’ “14

[Page 495]

Department of State:

The statement released to the press by the Department of State on August 12, 1942 on the subject of India begins:

“The following statement of this Government’s policy has been made a part of the orders to the American military forces in India:

“‘1. The sole purpose of the American forces in India is to prosecute the war of the United Nations against the Axis powers. In the prosecution of the war in that area the primary aim of the Government of the United States is to aid China.’”

Mr. Wendell Willkie: 15

In a speech to a mass meeting of teachers and students of nine universities in Chengtu, China on the campus of the West China Union University on October 2, 1942, Mr. Willkie, according to the Chinese Central News Agency, said:

“But may I say to you, who were the first to resist the attack of the aggressors: you have paid the full price for victory. Now we must take up the burden you have been carrying, we must help you fight, and we must help you to the limit of the resources of our country.”

According to a Central News Agency report, Mr. Willkie in an address to 1,200 public functionaries undergoing training at the Central Training Corps at Chungking, on October 3, 1942, stated:

“Since you have fought this war against aggression for five years, it is the duty we owe you to get the planes and the weapons to China as rapidly and as much as possible.”

In a speech at a reception given in his honor by Chinese cultural organizations in Chungking on October 6, 1942, Mr. Willkie is reported by the Central News Agency to have stated:

“After this war, China, America and all other nations that are willing to join will see to it that the people of different nations will live a free life without outside intervention. Not only that. Every nation must open up its resources for all other people, irrespective of race and creed. To that cause I dedicate my life and I call upon you cultural organizations to aim at such a good [goal?]”16

According to the Central News Agency, Mr. Willkie in a radio broadcast to the Chinese people, made at the invitation of the Chinese-American Institute of Cultural Relations at Chungking on October 6, 1942, said:

“I came to China …17 because in my judgment the hope or the failure of mankind in the coming centuries will be determined by [Page 496] whether or not those men who assume leadership have the wisdom, the vision and the imagination to solve the problems of the Great East in terms of human values, in terms of freedom, in terms of loss of empire and imperialism. America, great free America, which is pouring out its treasures, which is pouring out its resources to help all who fight with it, owes a much greater duty than merely the contribution of ammunition and armaments and airplanes to the people over here who have fought for five years. We owe much more than that. We owe the duty to join nations such as China to see this problem over here is worked out so that China can be completely free, so that other peoples who are now under domination can be completely free.” [Later in the speech Mr. Willkie said: “Although I have no authority to speak for all the people of the United States, I can speak for myself.”]18

Mr. Willkie is reported by the Central News Agency to have said in a prepared statement issued to the press at Chungking on October 7, 1942:

“China and Russia … each has engaged and held with heroic tenacity powerful and ruthless enemies. It is both just and wise for us to see to it that they secure an equitable share of our arms production.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“We believe this war must mean an end to the empire of nations over other nations. No foot of Chinese soil, for example, should be or can be ruled from now on except by the people who live on it, and we must say so now, not after the war.”

Vice President Wallace:

In a broadcast to China on United Nations Day (June 14, 1942), the following text was delivered as a message from Vice President Wallace to China:

“Our partnership with you, and with the other United Nations, goes beyond the necessities of winning the war. We look with clear eyes at the peace which must follow. We shall fight for a complete peace as well as for a complete victory.

“We have confidence in each other because we know that we have a common goal—and we will reach that goal.”

In an address at the rally of the Congress of American-Soviet Friendship at Madison Square Garden, New York, on November 9, 1942 Vice President Wallace said:

“Undoubtedly China will have a strong influence on the world which will come out of this war, and in exerting this influence it is quite possible that the principles of Sun Yat-sen will prove to be as significant as those of any other modern statesman.”

In a radio address on December 28, 1942 commemorating Woodrow Wilson’s birthday the Vice President said: [Page 497]

“As territory previously overrun by the Germans and the Japs is reoccupied by the forces of the United Nations, measures of relief and rehabilitation will have to be undertaken. Later, out of the experience of these temporary measures of relief, there will emerge the possibilities and the practicabilities of more permanent reconstruction.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“… We must recognize, for example, that it is perfectly justifiable for a debtor, pioneer nation to build up its infant industries behind a protective tariff.…

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“… The United Nations must back up military disarmament with psychological disarmament—supervision, or at least inspection, of the school systems of Germany and Japan, to undo so far as possible the diabolical work of Hitler19 and the Japanese war lords in poisoning the minds of the young.”

President Roosevelt:

In his annual message to Congress (78th Congress) on January 7, 1943 President Roosevelt stated:

“And in the attacks against Japan we shall be joined with the heroic people of China, that great people whose ideals of peace are so closely akin to our own. Even today we are flying as much Lend-Lease material into China as ever traversed the Burma Road, flying over mountains 17,000 feet high, flying blind through sleet and snow.

“We shall overcome all the formidable obstacles and get the battle equipment into China to shatter the power of our common enemy. From this war China will realize the security, the prosperity and the dignity which Japan has sought so ruthlessly to destroy.

“The period of our defensive attrition in the Pacific is drawing to a close. Now our aim is to force the Japanese to fight. Last year we stopped them. This year we intend to advance.”

Lend-Lease Administrator E. R. Stettinius, Jr.:

In a report to the Congress on January 25, 1943, on Lend-Lease aid, Lend-Lease Administrator Stettinius said:

“We have now taken measures which are considerably increasing … plane shipments and we shall also find other means to get to China the arms she needs.”

President Roosevelt:

According to newspaper reports of the press conference held by President Roosevelt following the end of the Casablanca conference on January 24, 1943,20 among the decisions reached at the conference, as stated by the President, were extension of assistance to China, and prosecution of the war in the Pacific in order to end Japanese aggression for all time.

  1. Administrative Assistant to President Roosevelt on a mission to China.
  2. President of the Chinese Executive Yuan (Premier).
  3. Republican nominee for President in 1940, who visited China and other countries in behalf of the war effort in 1942.
  4. Brackets appear in the original.
  5. Omissions in this memorandum indicated in the original.
  6. Brackets appear in the original.
  7. Adolf Hitler, German Chief of State, Führer, and Chancellor.
  8. The records of the Casablanca Conference are scheduled for publication in a subsequent volume of Foreign Relations.