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A Missed Opportunity

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Eisenhower and American Public Opinion on China

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Abstract

Following Premier Zhou En-lai’s (Chou En-lai) dramatic offer at the Bandung conference in April 1955, the US government agreed to enter talks with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to defuse the tensions that had arisen over the Chinese Communists’ attempts to recapture the offshore islands of Jinmen (Quemoy) and Matzu (Matsu), and settle other unresolved issues between the two countries. The negotiations took place in Geneva and lasted two years and proved to be inconclusive. The inflexibility of the US and its refusal to relax the total trade embargo implemented in 1951 and allow free travel and cultural exchange with Beijing (Peiping) were the main reasons for the lack of progress.

Scholars have explained the Eisenhower administration’s hard line policy toward Communist China in two ways. Historian Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and political scientist Leonard A. Kusnitz have argued that while both President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles privately realized the need to be more flexible toward the PRC and to accept the reality of “two Chinas,” they would not risk their relationship with the right wing in Congress to openly pursue such a possibility. Others such as Gordon H. Chang and David A. Mayers have claimed that the administration’s strategy of driving a wedge between Moscow and Beijing required a policy of isolating Communist China so that Mao would learn quickly the drawbacks of its alliance with the Soviet Union. More recently, historian Rosemary Foot has put forward a third explanation. As a result of the Korean War and because of the new Soviet leadership’s willingness to put its relationship with Beijing on a more equal basis, the PRC had begun to enjoy increased status within the Communist bloc. Those developments, in conjunction with the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954, helped to convince the Eisenhower administration that conciliatory gestures from Washington could empower Beijing with fatal consequences for US interests in Asia.

The purpose of this chapter is to understand the often-underestimated role of American public opinion in influencing the ambassadorial talks. Contrary to traditional scholarly literature which dismisses American public opinion rigidly against any improvement of Sino-US relations, an accurate analysis of popular feelings during those two years clearly shows that the American people were far more inclined than was the Eisenhower administration toward establishing some sort of contacts with Communist China . How then did the administration sell its hard line policy? Did it succeed in making the public accept its hostile stance? And what consequences did its domestic public rhetoric ultimately have on Sino-US relations?

Parts of this chapter were originally published in Mara Oliva, “Beaten at Their Own Game: Eisenhower, Dulles, US Public Opinion and the Sino-American Ambassadorial Talks of 1955–1957,” Journal of Cold War Studies 20 (2018): forthcoming.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Nancy, Bernkopf Tucker, “Cold War Contacts: America and China, 1952–1956” in Sino-American Relations, 1945–1955: A Joint Reassessment of a Critical Decade, ed. Harding Harry et al. (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1989); Leonard Kusnitz, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: America’s China Policy, 1949–1979 (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984); Gordon Chang, Friends and Enemies: The United States, China and the Soviet Union, 1948–1972 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990); David Mayers, Cracking the Monolith: US Policy Against the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1949–1955 (London: Louisiana State University Press, 1986).

  2. 2.

    Rosemary Foot “The Eisenhower Administration’s Fear of Empowering the Chinese,” Political Science Quarterly 111 (1996): 505–521.

  3. 3.

    Hans J. Morgenthau, “John Foster Dulles,” in An Uncertain Tradition: American Secretaries of State in the Twentieth Century, ed. Norman A. Graebner (New York: McGraw Hill, 1996).

  4. 4.

    Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, May 1955, Records of the Office of Public Opinion Studies, State Department, 1943–1975, AI568L, box 12, National Archives II, College Park, Maryland (hereafter DOS, file reference, box number and NAII).

  5. 5.

    Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, June 1955, DOS, AI568L, box 12, NAII.

  6. 6.

    Ibid.

  7. 7.

    Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, August 1954 and July 1955, DOS, AI568L, box 12, NAII.

  8. 8.

    “Special Press Review on Talks with the PRC,” May 25, 1955, DOS, AI568K, box 7, NAII.

  9. 9.

    Daily Summary of Public Opinion, April 28 and May 2, 1955, DOS, AI568K, box 7, NAII; Stanley Bachrack, The Committee of One Million: “China Lobby” Politics, 1953–1971 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976), 106–107, 118–119.

  10. 10.

    Daily Summary of Public Opinion, April 28 and May 2, 1955, DOS, AI568K, box 7, NAII; Dulles call to Hagerty, July 27, 1955, JFD Papers, Subject Series, box 5, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas (hereafter DDEL).

  11. 11.

    Estimate of Prospects of Soviet Union Achieving its Goals, Paper IV, July 1, 1955, John Foster Dulles Papers, box 90, Seely, G. Mudd Library, University of Princeton, New Jersey (hereafter JFD papers followed by box number and ML).

  12. 12.

    Eisenhower’s press conferences May 18 and May 31, 1955, John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu [retrieved May 2, 2010] (hereafter the American Presidency Project followed by retrieved date).

  13. 13.

    Foot, “The Eisenhower Administration’s Fear of Empowering the Chinese.”

  14. 14.

    Telegram from Ambassador Johnson to the State Department, August 2, 1955, Foreign Relations of the United States, III, 1955–1957 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1986), 3 (hereafter FRUS followed by volume, year, and page).

  15. 15.

    Memorandum of Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, August 5, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 15–17.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.

  17. 17.

    Ibid.

  18. 18.

    Zhang, Baijia and Jia, Quingguo, “Steering Wheel, Shock Absorber, and Diplomatic Probe in Confrontation: Sino-American Ambassadorial Talks Seen from a Chinese Perspective,” in Re-Examining the Cold War: US-China Diplomacy, 1954–1973, ed. Robert Ross et al. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011).

  19. 19.

    Telegram from the Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador Johnson at Geneva, September 13, 1955, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 87–88.

  20. 20.

    Goldstein, Steven, “Dialogue of the Deaf? The Sino-Ambassadorial Level Talks, 1955–1970,” in Re-Examining the Cold War: US-China Diplomacy, 1954–1973, ed. Robert Ross et al. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011) 209; Alexis U. Johnson , The Right Hand of Power: The Memoirs of an American Diplomat (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1984), 251; Telegram from Johnson to Department of State, September 14, 1955, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 88–90.

  21. 21.

    CT September 20 through October 15, 1955, DOS, AI568P, box 29, NAII; Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, October 1955, DOS, AI568K, box 7, NAII.

  22. 22.

    Shu Guang, Zhang, Economic Cold War: America’s Embargo Against China and the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1949–1963 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), 17–49.

  23. 23.

    Telegram from Dulles to Johnson , FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 125–126.

  24. 24.

    Dulles’ press conference, October 18, 1955, DOS, box 8, NAII.

  25. 25.

    Telegram from Secretary of State to Ambassador Johnson , December 6, 1955, FRUS, 1955–1957, 206–207; Foot, “The Eisenhower Administration’s Fear of Empowering the Chinese,” 509–510.

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Johnson , The Right Hand of Power: The Memoirs of an American Diplomat, 228–266.

  28. 28.

    Department of State Bulletin, October 1955 through March 1956 (hereafter DSB, followed by issue number, date and page reference).

  29. 29.

    Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, January, February, and March 1956, DOS, AI568L, box 13, NAII).

  30. 30.

    CT, November 10 through 16, 1955, DOS, AI568P, box 29, NAII.

  31. 31.

    James Shepley, “How Dulles Averted War,” Life, XL, January 16, 1956, 70–80.

  32. 32.

    Telegram from Johnson to Department of State, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 271–273; Time, January 23, 1956, 15; January 30, 1956, 30.

  33. 33.

    The New York Times, January 19, 1956.

  34. 34.

    Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, June 1956, DOS, AI568L, box 13, NAII; “Special Report on American Opinion,” August 1954, DOS, AI568K, box 13, NAII.

  35. 35.

    Newsweek, March 23, 1956, 23–24; CT April 9 through 16, 1956 and June 7 through 14, 1956, DOS AI568P, box 30, NAII.

  36. 36.

    CT January 9 through 16 and February 20 through 27, 1957, DOS, AI568P, box 30, NAII.

  37. 37.

    “Special Report on American Opinion,” April 3, 1957, DOS, AI568K, box 13, NAII.

  38. 38.

    Daily Summary of Public Opinion, November 19, 1956, DOS, AI568K, box 8, NAII; Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, December 1956, DOS, AI568L, box 13, NAII; Telegram from Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State, December 13, 1956, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 451–452.

  39. 39.

    CT February 6 through 13, 1957, DOS, AI568P, box 30, NAII; Monthly Survey of Public Opinion, March 1957, DOS, AI568L, box 13, NAII; letter from Alfred Kohlberg to Rowan Gaither Jr. President of Ford Foundation, November 4, 1955, CD Jacksons Papers, box 70, DDEL.

  40. 40.

    “Special Report on American Attitudes Towards Trade with Communist Countries,” March 1957, DOS, AI568K, box 13, NAII.

  41. 41.

    Thompson to Jackson , August 8, 1956, CD Jackson Papers, box 69, DDEL; Bachrack, The Committee of One Million, “China Lobby” Politics 1953–1971, 121–123.

  42. 42.

    DSB, 32, April 24, 1957, 132–134.

  43. 43.

    Telegram from Secretary of State to Ambassador Alexis U. Johnson , August 1, 1955, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 213–214.

  44. 44.

    Baijia and Quinnguo, “Steering Wheel, Shock Absorber, and Diplomatic Probe in Confrontation: Sino-American Ambassadorial Talks Seen from a Chinese Perspective,” 180.

  45. 45.

    DSB, 32, September 23, 1956, 55.

  46. 46.

    Ibid.

  47. 47.

    CT, December 30, 1956 through February 7, 1957, DOS, AI568P, box 30, NAII.

  48. 48.

    The New York Times, January 20, 1957, 22; “Review of State Department Mail,” May 13, 1957, DDE Records as a President, White House Central Files, General Files, box 802, DDEL.

  49. 49.

    “Congressional Reaction to Newspapermen Travel Ban,” February 1957, DOS, AI568K, box 13, NAII.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    “The People Speak on Red China,” Editor & Publisher, February 1957, 6, Library of Congress Washington, DC (hereafter LoC).

  52. 52.

    Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, February 13, 1957, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 478–479.

  53. 53.

    Memorandum of Conversation, February 18, 1957, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 481–487.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    Ibid.

  56. 56.

    Ibid.

  57. 57.

    Ibid.

  58. 58.

    Ibid.

  59. 59.

    Memorandum of Conversation Between the Secretary of State and Frank Bartholomew, March 3, 1957, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 492–493.

  60. 60.

    Ibid.

  61. 61.

    CT, March 20 through 27, 1957, DOS, AI568P, box 30, NAII.

  62. 62.

    Ibid.

  63. 63.

    Ibid.

  64. 64.

    CT, April 4 through 11, 1957, DOS, AI568P, box 30, NAII.

  65. 65.

    DDE Papers, Diary Series, box 24, DDEL.

  66. 66.

    CT, April 4 through 11, 1957, DOS, AI568P, box 30, NAII.

  67. 67.

    The New York Times, April 25, 1957, 1.

  68. 68.

    Memorandum of Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, June 3, 1957; Robertson to Dulles , June 1957, JFD Papers, box 121, ML.

  69. 69.

    Memorandum of Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, June 3, 1957; Memorandum from Robertson to Dulles , June 1957, JFD papers, box 121, ML.

  70. 70.

    Address by the Secretary of State, June 28, 1957, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 558–566.

  71. 71.

    Ibid.

  72. 72.

    Ibid.

  73. 73.

    The New York Times, August 23, 1957, 2.

  74. 74.

    The New York Times, August 26, 1957, 1.

  75. 75.

    Memorandum from Robertson to Dulles , November 16, 1957, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 635–636.

  76. 76.

    Ibid.

  77. 77.

    Memorandum of Conversation, August 20, 1957, JFD papers, box 301, ML.

  78. 78.

    Telegram from the Ambassador in the Republic of China (Rankin ) to the Department of State, May 23, 1957, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 535–537.

  79. 79.

    Telegram from the Secretary of State to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson , August 1, 1955, FRUS, III, 1955–1957, 213–214.

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  1. Department of History, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Mara Oliva

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Oliva, M. (2018). A Missed Opportunity. In: Eisenhower and American Public Opinion on China. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76195-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76195-4_6

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