Disunited Nations

In Washington the United Nations lost a campaign. It was not military: news from the battlefronts was still excellent. It had nothing to do with production: that war was being won over & over again. The misfortune was the failure of the U.S. to practice the United Nations principle that it had preached--with the result that a great & good ally was slowly losing faith.

From Chungking, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek sent orders that the Chinese military mission which came to the U.S. last April--to plan a united strategy against the Jap in the Far East--should return home. No explanation was given. None was needed.

Everyone who had followed the mission's progress knew that it had been ignored and rebuffed. Its leader, brilliant General Hsiung Shih-fei, had been assured, a place at the tables where United Nations high strategy is made. He presented his credentials to Franklin Roosevelt, met the Army's Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall and the Navy's COMINCH Admiral Ernest J. King. He set up headquarters in a modest brick house on Embassy Row, covered its walls with maps, got ready to proffer his precious information on the war in the East.

Nothing happened. When Admiral William D. Leahy was appointed the President's personal Chief of Staff, the General called to pay his respects. That was General Hsiung's only contact with the Allied High Command. No invitation to sit in on the councils ever arrived.

Perhaps the U.S. felt impelled to snub China because the Russians, not at war with Japan, did not want to take part in discussions on the Far East. But probably most of the trouble was a vast and inexcusable neglect. In China, it used to be said of General Hsiung: "He can ride with the whirlwind and direct the storm." With Washington's chill and ominous calm, he could last week ride no longer.

Surface & Depth. When news of his recall reached the White House, a hurried telephone call went to the little brick headquarters on Embassy Row--very nearly the first time the telephone had rung there in nine months. General Hsiung, finally, received an invitation to talk to Franklin Roosevelt. With his interpreter, Captain M. H. Robert Lee, he went to the White House, cooled his heels for a half hour, finally spoke to the President.

Philosophic General Hsiung, who at 50 has the bland face of a schoolboy, departed with his usual smile, said only that he and Franklin Roosevelt had discussed the "Pacific situation." Was it true that he was being recalled because of dissatisfaction with United Nations cooperation and the trickle of Lend-Lease aid? The General replied tactfully: "We should never be satisfied unless our enemy is completely defeated."

But one noted Chinese who did not have to conceal his bitterness was Philosopher-Author Lin Yutang. Said he: "Let me ask the American people a question: Why should not General Hsiung leave? Of what use can his presence in Washington be to the Allied cause--since the leaders of the United Nations appear to be far from ready to share with China a unified strategy against Japan? The enormous reservoir of good will between China and America is being severely drawn upon. . . ."

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