Owen Lattimore and the Loss of China

Robert P. Newman

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520368620
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520328570
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Owen Lattimore and the Loss of China explores one of the most contentious debates in mid-20th-century American history, centered on the fall of China to communism and the U.S. response to this geopolitical shift. At the heart of the controversy was Owen Lattimore, a distinguished scholar of China and Asia, who became a lightning rod for accusations during the Red Scare. Senator Joseph McCarthy and his allies cast Lattimore as a Communist conspirator responsible for America's "failure" in Asia, despite the lack of evidence and his persona non grata status in the Soviet Union. The book delves into the complex interplay of political paranoia, Cold War ideology, and the demonization of intellectuals, revealing how Lattimore's advocacy for diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China positioned him as both a visionary and a scapegoat. Drawing on newly available archival materials and Lattimore's personal papers, the book paints a detailed portrait of the man behind the headlines, his scholarship, and the historical forces that sought to silence him. Through rigorous investigation, it also examines the broader implications of the era's anti-Communist fervor, from academic freedom to the shaping of U.S. foreign policy in Asia. This work is more than a biography; it is a critical study of American political culture and the enduring legacy of the Cold War's impact on public discourse and policy. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.

Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• PROLOGUE
• CHAPTER ONE A Fascination with Central Asia
• CHAPTER TWO The IPR Years
• CHAPTER THREE At Johns Hopkins
• CHAPTER FOUR “China Will Win”
• CHAPTER FIVE Adviser to Chiang
• CHAPTER SIX War
• CHAPTER SEVEN OWI, San Francisco
• CHAPTER EIGHT Mission with Wallace
• CHAPTER NINE "Who Lost China?” Begins
• CHAPTER TEN Kohlberg and the Pauley Mission
• CHAPTER ELEVEN The Triumph of Ideology over Politics
• CHAPTER TWELVE Cold War Declared
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN Europe Up, Asia Down
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN Barmine
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN Top Soviet Spy
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN Out of the Woodwork
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN A Fool or a Knave
• CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Agony at the FBI: Louis Budenz
• CHAPTER NINETEEN Exit Tydings, Enter Kim Il-sung
• CHAPTER TWENTY China Attacks
• CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE McCarran
• CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Venom: Twelve Days with SISS
• CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Matusow, Bogolepov, the CIA, and Other Liars
• CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Roy Cohn as Torquemada
• CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Youngdahl
• CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Rover, Asiaticus, and BDPT
• CHAPTER TW E N T Y — S E V E N Second Indictment, Second Dismissal
• CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Starting Over
• CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Ascendancy at Leeds
• CHAPTER THIRTY After Leeds
• CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE Paris
• CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Cambridge and Pawtucket
• NOTES
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX