- Wedemeyer, Albert Coady
- (1897-1989)Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Albert Wedemeyer graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1918. During the 1920s, he served with the infantry in the United States and the Philippines. He became a captain in 1935. Having spent some years training in the German General Staff School in Berlin, Wedemeyer was given responsibility for leading the planning for U.S. war mobilization in 1941. In 1943, he was posted to the Southeast Asia Command under British Lord Louis Mountbatten, and he planned the offensives in Sumatra and Malaya. In 1944, he replaced General Joseph Stilwell as commander of the U.S. Army forces in China and became chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek. Wedemeyer worked to strengthen the nationalist forces, and in 1945, when conflict broke out with the communist groups lead by Mao Zedong, he urged support for the nationalists. After a brief return to the United States, in 1947 he was sent on a fact-finding mission to assess the situation in China. He called for massive aid to support the nationalists, but his recommendations were rejected.The failure to follow his proposals was used by the China lobby to criticize the Truman administration for the “loss” of China. From 1947 to 1949, Wedemeyer worked in the General Staff, and from 1949 until 1951 he commanded the Sixth Army in San Francisco, California. After he retired from the army, he served as a business executive and was active in the Republican Party.
Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt–Truman Era . Neil A. Wynn . 2015.