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    China 1949 Factfile

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    Nick Shepley
    In 1949, the establishment of communist-led People's Republic of China scared Americans for three main reasons: 1) China had been a close U.S. ally but now became one of its bitterest enemies overnight with the communists in control. 2) The world was starkly divided between American and communist spheres after World War 2, so losing China to communism was a major strategic loss. 3) American politicians and the public blamed the U.S. administration, particularly President Truman and his State Department, for not doing enough to support Chiang Kai-shek and prevent a communist takeover in China. This blame escalated the Red Scare and rise of McCarthyism within the U.

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    China 1949 Factfile

    Uploaded by

    Nick Shepley
    102 views1 page
    In 1949, the establishment of communist-led People's Republic of China scared Americans for three main reasons: 1) China had been a close U.S. ally but now became one of its bitterest enemies overnight with the communists in control. 2) The world was starkly divided between American and communist spheres after World War 2, so losing China to communism was a major strategic loss. 3) American politicians and the public blamed the U.S. administration, particularly President Truman and his State Department, for not doing enough to support Chiang Kai-shek and prevent a communist takeover in China. This blame escalated the Red Scare and rise of McCarthyism within the U.

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    A handy factfile on America, China and the start of the Cold War

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    In 1949, the establishment of communist-led People's Republic of China scared Americans for three main reasons: 1) China had been a close U.S. ally but now became one of its bitterest enemies overnight with the communists in control. 2) The world was starkly divided between American and communist spheres after World War 2, so losing China to communism was a major strategic loss. 3) American politicians and the public blamed the U.S. administration, particularly President Truman and his State Department, for not doing enough to support Chiang Kai-shek and prevent a communist takeover in China. This blame escalated the Red Scare and rise of McCarthyism within the U.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    102 views1 page

    China 1949 Factfile

    Uploaded by

    Nick Shepley
    In 1949, the establishment of communist-led People's Republic of China scared Americans for three main reasons: 1) China had been a close U.S. ally but now became one of its bitterest enemies overnight with the communists in control. 2) The world was starkly divided between American and communist spheres after World War 2, so losing China to communism was a major strategic loss. 3) American politicians and the public blamed the U.S. administration, particularly President Truman and his State Department, for not doing enough to support Chiang Kai-shek and prevent a communist takeover in China. This blame escalated the Red Scare and rise of McCarthyism within the U.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    China 1949.

    Why did this


    event scare Americans?
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    Factfile
    In 1949 Communist Armies led by Mao Zedong defeated the nationalist regime
    of Chiang Kai-shek. The communists took control of the Chinese mainland,
    establishing the People's Republic of China, while Chiang Kai-shek, who had
    received U.S. support during the conflict, fled to the island of Taiwan. China,
    previously a loyal U.S. ally and a country Americans felt particularly familiar
    with because of the strong presence of American Christian missionaries,
    overnight became one of America's most bitter enemies. With the post–World
    War II world starkly divided into American and communist spheres of influence,
    the Chinese shift was seen as a serious loss. From the establishment of the
    People's Republic of China well into the Korean War and the witch hunts of the
    McCarthy era, a debate raged in Washington about whom to blame for the loss
    of China to communist forces. At the time, most of the blame fell on the
    administration of President Harry Truman, as well as suspected communist
    sympathisers and subversives

    American right-wingers managed to persuade the American people that the


    State Department had "been guided by a left-wing group who obviously have
    wanted to get rid of Chiang and were willing at least to turn China over to the
    Communists for that purpose." Nevada Senator Pat McCarran went even
    further, claiming "our own State Department peddles the Communistic
    propaganda line … it is time that something was done about it." These
    statements soon escalated into a search for communist infiltrators in the public
    administration and led to the ascent of Senator Joseph McCarthy who, in
    February 1950, claimed to have a list of 205 protected communists in the State
    Department.

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