The Boxer Rebellion was a violent Chinese uprising against foreigners that is best known for the 55-day siege of the foreign legations in Peking in 1900. Mike describes the origins and early stages of the rebellion in this excerpt from Episode 204 ("The Harmonious") of the United States of Amnesia…
When Chinese "volunteers" intervened in the Korean War in 1950, American relations with the People's Republic of China fell into an icy abyss from which they did not emerge until President Richard Nixon made his momentous decision to transform world politics by visiting Beijing in 1972. In the United States,…
The United States had three major policy options with regard to China as Chinese Communist forces swept to victory over the Nationalists on the Chinese mainland in 1949. Marshall, Mike, and Blake introduce these three options in this excerpt from Episode 209 ("White Paper to Red Scare") of th United…
Marshall, Blake, and Mike engage in a wide-ranging discussion of American policy disputes over what to do about China after World War II. President Truman, Secretaries of State George C. Marshall and Dean Acheson, Madame Chiang and her family, General Claire Chennault, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, the CIA, the domino…
Mike walks us through the complex situation in China in the aftermath of World War II, with armed Japanese operating in the country, Soviet forces occupying Manchuria, and the Nationalist and Communist Chinese resuming their civil war with one another. The decisive phase of the civil war ensues, culminating in…
The Ku Klux Klan was a powerful social and political force in the United States in the 1920s, and probably reached the zenith of its power and influence with a large parade it held in Washington, D.C., in August 1925. Mike describes the parade and related events in this excerpt…
In this excerpt from Episode 202 ("Conflict Follows Trade") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus" — which discusses how the United States always has misunderstood China — Marshall describes how American merchants seeking trade with China in the 1820s and 1830s established a market…
In this excerpt from Episode 205 ("The Soong Dynasty") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus" — which explores how the United States has never really understood China — Marshall explains how Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, later viewed in the United States as a…
In this excerpt from Episode 207 ("Flying Tigers and Burmese Roads") of the United States of Amnesia podcast's "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus" series on the persistent U.S. misunderstanding of China, Blake tells us how Generals Joseph Stilwell and Claire Chennault described Chinese Nationalist leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in a 1943…
Mike again leads us in our narrative of how America continued to fall short of its goals for China in World War II during the second half of the war. We meet General Claire Chennault of 'Flying Tigers' fame, whose ideas for how to fight in China contradict those of…
Marshall, Blake, and Mike discuss the imaginative stories that Enlightenment figures like Benjamin Franklin told about exotic, faraway lands like China — places the Western world knew little about — in this excerpt from Episode 201 — "The Flag Follows Trade" — of the United States of Amnesia podcast series…
In an excerpt from Episode 206 — "Vinegar Joe and the Generalissimo" — of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus" — which discusses how the United States always has misunderstood China — Mike describes how and why U.S. Army General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell became…
