China lobby

   Organized support for the Chinese nationalists began following the nationalist revolution of 1925-1928. Subsequently, these elements called for a firm U.S. response to Japanese aggression against China from 1931 onward. The Price Committee, led by Frank and Harry Price, was able to enlist the support of Henry Stimson and through him had some influence on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies. During World War II, support for China was mainly in the form of financial aid coordinated by the United China Relief group. However, with the triumph of the communists in 1949, the China lobby was primarily concerned with organizing support for the Republic of China, keeping the Peoples’ Republic of China out of the United Nations, and directing criticism against the administration of Harry S. Truman, particularly Secretary of State Dean Acheson. The leading figures in this group were Henry Luce, Alfred Kohlberg, Frederick C. McKee, and in Congress Representative Walter H. Judd, and Senators William F. Knowland, Karl Mundt, and Joseph McCarthy. The lobby continued as a force in various forms until the 1970s, when the communist regime was finally recognized.

   See also Cold War.