FOREIGN POLICY IN THE POST WAR PERIOD, 1949-1954

Generally defined, the “China Lobby ” was a broad network of people, both foreign and domestic, whose interests coalesced around the goal of overthrowing of communism in China. It consisted of well-financed Nationalist Chinese officials in collaboration with right-wing U.S. po litical elites who worked toward the common goal of supporting Chiang Kai-shek’s recovery of mainland China from Mao Zedong and the Communist forces.1 Aided by the anticommunist environment of the 1950s, the Lobby’s loose affiliation of influential individuals— including associates in the private sector, media, and politics—exerted considerable pressure on U.S. foreign policy decisions concerning China. It is important to note that the term “lobby ” in the United States usually describes a private group that attempts to influence policy. 1 Ross H. Koen, The China Lobby in American Politics (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), ix-x. Koen’s book was actually withdrawn from publication—i.e., suppressed by efforts of the China Lobby—after printing in 1960 to remain legally unpublished unti