Chapter 13
Truman’s Delusion of Kuomintang–Communist Cooperation

II. America’s Failure to See Through the Chinese Communist Party

In 1944, following its decisive naval victory in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the United States had gained overwhelming air and naval superiority in the Pacific. Plans for operations against Japan’s home islands began to take shape. To reduce future casualties in such operations, the U.S. military considered landing on the Shandong Peninsula to make use of airfields in North China for bombing Japan. This required reconnaissance missions into the so-called “Liberated Areas” under Communist control in the Jin-Cha-Ji (Shanxi–Chahar–Hebei) region to gather military and meteorological intelligence. At the same time, General Joseph Stilwell wanted to assess the actual anti-Japanese contributions and capabilities of the Communist forces firsthand, to justify his policy of forming a united front with the Communists against Japan. Thus, Stilwell proposed to the Nationalist Government sending a U.S. military observation team to Yan’an — what became known as the Dixie Mission.

In July 1944, the American team arrived in Yan’an. The mission was essentially a lamb delivered to the wolves: the Communists eagerly exploited the opportunity from beginning to end.

While receiving the diplomatic recognition implied by the Americans’ presence, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also sought to emulate Stalin by deceiving the United States into providing military aid. To help facilitate this scheme, Stalin even formally dissolved the Comintern, the international Communist organization.

At the time, the CCP was still funding its operations largely by growing opium and trafficking narcotics. In an act of calculated fraud, the Communists requested that U.S. military aid be divided equally between themselves and the Nationalist government. The Americans agreed in private to equip 20,000 Communist troops. This plot was temporarily shelved due to protests from the Nationalist government and intervention from U.S. Ambassador Patrick Hurley.

The head of the Dixie Mission, Colonel David D. Barrett, and team members John S. Service and John Paton Davies were all so-called “China Hands.” Barrett had served in China for many years and spoke fluent Chinese. The latter two were born and raised in China, making them all susceptible to manipulation.

As early as their time in Chongqing, people like John Service had already been courted and compromised by Zhou Enlai — much like some 21st-century American officials who eagerly form ‘strategic partnerships” with the CCP.

To deceive these Americans, the CCP’s Liberation Daily even published editorials celebrating the U.S. Independence Day, lavishing praise on American democracy, the inalienable rights of man, and the dignity of freedom — claiming that the CCP shared the same ideals as Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. The street thug Mao Zedong told Service, “Every American soldier in China should be a living advertisement for democracy. He should talk to every Chinese person he meets about democracy.” This was a classic case of a wolf offering New Year’s greetings to a hen—clearly done to draw the U.S. to its side against the Chinese government. And the Dixie Mission, tragically, played right along.

Service, Davies, and other pro-Communist sympathizers sincerely believed that Mao Zedong, the Communist Party Chairman, would not speak falsely — just as Roosevelt had trusted Stalin to keep his word.

In November 1948, as the Republic of China government was on the brink of destruction — besieged by international Communism and collusion from racist Western powers — Madame Chiang Kai-shek rushed to the U.S. to plead for help. Truman coldly refused. The fool had no idea that within just two years, America would pay tenfold in Korea for that mistake.

In April 1949, the ROC government rejected the humiliating surrender terms from Soviet proxy Mao Zedong. By December of that year, the government had relocated to Taipei. The Chinese mainland has now remained under the control of the Soviet-backed Communist gang and their yellow-Russian vassals for 75 years.