Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes
China, in the last – less than half a century, has become one of the great democracies of the world.
At the time, the President wanted to get Chiang to fight aggressively against to Japanese when he was taking large amounts of American monetary aid and military equipment but using it to try and exterminate Mao and his Communists who were fighting the Japanese. FDR was clearly trying to flatter Chiang and his wife and gain political points with the China Lobby but it is not known whether or not he really believed this and other statements. Chiang was a vicious, cruel, corrupt military dictator but he had become a “Christian” and always spoke of the importance of democracy of which there was none in China. Our intelligence from China was very bad at the time, with the secret reports of General Stillwell (the senior American military man in China) and that of a few state department China hands were in total contradiction to the Public information that the President was receiving from Henry Luce and his Time Magazine and the large China Lobby, much of which was ironically paid for with the American AID money given to China. So it is not known whether Roosevelt actually believed this and other statements or was just being diplomatic.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1882-1945, 32nd President of the United States (Democrat, NY) Joint Press Conference with Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Washington DC, February 19, 1943
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
At the time, the President wanted to get Chiang to fight aggressively against to Japanese when he was taking large amounts of American monetary aid and military equipment but using it to try and exterminate Mao and his Communists who were fighting the Japanese. FDR was clearly trying to flatter Chiang and his wife and gain political points with the China Lobby but it is not known whether or not he really believed this and other statements. Chiang was a vicious, cruel, corrupt military dictator but he had become a “Christian” and always spoke of the importance of democracy of which there was none in China. Our intelligence from China was very bad at the time, with the secret reports of General Stillwell (the senior American military man in China) and that of a few state department China hands were in total contradiction to the Public information that the President was receiving from Henry Luce and his Time Magazine and the large China Lobby, much of which was ironically paid for with the American AID money given to China. So it is not known whether Roosevelt actually believed this and other statements or was just being diplomatic.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, which defined modern liberalism in the United States throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended shortly after he died in office.
