Hanson on Deck

In 1922 rough, sprawling Harbin, Manchuria swarmed with intrigue--Chinese v. Russians, Japanese v. Chinese, Russians v. Japanese, White Russians v. Red Russians, bandits v. everybody. Into this hotbed, as U. S. Consul, stepped George Charles Hanson, huge, round, genial and imperturbable as a sculptured Buddha. In Shanghai, Chefoo, Dairen, Newchwang, Tientsin, Swatow, Chungking, Foochow he had already made himself one of the Far East's best-known diplomats. It had been 13 years since he left his native Bridgeport, Conn, as a Cornell engineering graduate. In that time he had learned to stay sober while gulping vast quantities of vodka, stay suave while sipping small quantities of tea, tell jokes in Russian and 15 Chinese dialects, outplay Chinese generals at poker and politics, pen dispatches which his State Department superiors found masterpieces of industry and insight.

In Harbin, Consul Hanson took no sides. He made friends with everybody. He got U. S. oil promoters and fur dealers out of trouble over White Russian dancers. And he kept his eyes & ears wide open. On the crucial Chinese Eastern Railway he rode impartially in the private cars of Chinese officials, Russian officials, Japanese bankers. When Japan finally turned from scheming to shooting he was ready. Without waiting for instructions he swung through the trouble area, let Secretary Stimson act on first-hand facts instead of garbled press reports.

To Moscow as Consul General went George Hanson when U. S. recognition of Russia promised to open up vast trade possibilities. Three weeks ago that glittering bubble burst (TIME,, Feb. 11). Following week, as a diplomatic suggestion that Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinoff had played him false, President Roosevelt pared the staff of the U. S. Embassy in Moscow, closed the Consulate.

But George Hanson was not to be long out of a job. Last week, while home on leave in Bridgeport, he was assigned as Consul General and Charge d'Affaires to be the ranking U. S. diplomat in Addis-Ababa, capital of Abyssinia. Informed observers interpreted the assignment not as a reward to George Hanson but as assurance that the State Department was deeply concerned with the promise of trouble between Italy and Abyssinia (see p. 18), wanted one of its best hands on deck.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.