| dc.description.abstract | The Foreign Service Officer controversy began in ··china during World War II and unfolded in the post-war decade. It is the story of men whose lives became intertwined and helped to weave what has become known as the China tangle. These men were Patrick J. Hurley, special Presidential emissary and later Ambassador, and the Foreign Service Officers stationed in China at that time, especially John Paton Davies, Jr. and John Stewart Service.Almost immediately after Hurley's arrival in China, contention developed between him and these two officers, who were assigned to Commanding General Joseph W. Stilwell. In the months following his appointment as Ambassador, the conflict intensified into an open struggle which resulted in the departure from China of both Davies and Service. This did not end the controversy, however; several incidents aroused Hurley's suspicions that these men continued to have an unhealthy influence upon his assignment. Although the primary target of the Ambassador's distrust was Davies and Service, his relationship with most of the professional soldiers and diplomats had also become strained. As the months of 1945 passed, punctuated by growing evidence of hostility between the Chinese Communists and the Nationalist government, Hurley's feeling that his work was being sabotaged increased. Ultimately, he resigned in November, 1945, proclaiming his suspicions to the world. His accusations of disloyalty and pro-Communist sympathy in the State Department gained considerable public attention, encouraged by anti-administration and pro-Chiang Kai-shek forces, and a Congressional hearing to investigate the former Ambassador's charges resulted. The inquiry heard Hurley reiterate his suspicions with great pomposity and self-righteousness, but the Senate committee and most of the public were unconvinced. The former Ambassador was determined, though, to gain public vindication, and Davies and Service, who believed that they had been exonerated, found that Hurley's accusations remained very much alive. As the political climate of the nation became more responsive to the Communist-influence thesis during the post-war decade, a series of Congressional investigations were held. These hearings provided the former Ambassador with an opportunity to repeat his old charges, which increasingly focused on Davies and Service. Finally, these two officers fell--victims of a red scare which saw basic American rights disregarded. Within a short time, Davies and Service disappeared from public attention and were ignored if not forgotten. Their story, nevertheless, remains of vital importance. Although the facts will never be completely known, a better understanding of why these two professional diplomats were discharged from the Foreign Service provides a new perspective into America's World War II China policy and the debate concerning it which became one of the significant themes of the post-war period. | |
