Ep. 118 | John Service (Part 4)
In this episode, we will conclude our overview of the life of John Stewart Service. Ambassador Hurley has declared war against his detractors and US-China policy is thrown for a loop as the two contenders for power vie for control of the agenda.
Already the CCP and KMT are facing off militarily in some parts of China. As the Red Army brings Mao Zedong to power, people in the US who are following this situation start screaming bloody murder and demanding to know how this happened. In this rush to judgment, John Service will serve as the lightning rod for much of the bitter struggle.
For a little over a decade, Service became one of the most famous victims of the McCarthy hearings. But in the end, there was a happy ending. He truly was one of the great China Hands of his time.
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Terms in Episode
| Pinyin/Term | Chinese | English/Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Brig. Gen. Mervin Gross | - | Second in command to Wedemeyer in Chongqing |
| Chengdu | 成都 | Capital of Sichuan province, birthplace of John Service |
| Chiang Kai-shek | 蒋介石 | KMT leader, military strongman and wartime president of China |
| Chongqing | 重庆 | Municipality in China that once was part of Sichuan. Served as the wartime capital of China after the Nationalists were chased out of Nanjing and Hankou. |
| Col. David Barrett | - | Long serving US military man in China, headed the Dixie Mission |
| FDR | - | Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
| Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer | - | Replaced Stilwell as commander of US forces in China |
| George Atcheson | - | Deputy to Hurley at the US Embassy in Chongqing |
| J. Edgar Hoover | - | Top guy at the FBI |
| John Carter Vincent | - | Another China Hand and Foreign Service officer based in DC |
| John Paton Davies | - | Childhood friend of John Service and fellow China Hand and Foreign Service officer |
| John Stewart Service | - | China Hand, Foreign Service officer |
| Joseph Stilwell | - | US Army Four-star general. A legend in his own time. The bete noir of Chiang Kai-shek. |
| Lauchlin Currie | - | A White House economic advisor and aide-de-camp to Franklin Roosevelt |
| Patrick Hurley | - | Succeeded Clarence Gauss as Ambassador to China during the latter half of the War |
| Philip Jaffe | - | Known Communist operating in the publishing industry, co-founded Amerasia, a left-leaning journal |
| Raymond P. Ludden | - | Foreign Service officer extraordinaire, Dixie Mission member |
| Tai Li (Dai Li) | 戴笠 | Called China’s Himmler…. He was Chiang Kai-shek’s chief of secret police |
| “Wild” Bill Donovan | - | Founder and head of the OSS, forerunner to the US CIA |
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