Henry Luce’s American & Chinese Century: An Analysis of US News Magazines’ Coverage of General Chiang Kai-shek from 1936 to 1949

Abstract

Time magazine founder and publisher Henry Luce was accused by scholars and critics of using his media empire to support and promote General Chiang Kai-shek and his ruling Chinese Nationalist Party during the pre-war, World War II, and Chinese Civil War periods. The criticism was particularly directed at the content contained in Time magazine, the leading weekly news magazine of the era. However, the coverage of General Chiang was actually much more varied than Luce’s most ardent critics had concluded, and the portrayals differed depending on which events were covered and during which time periods.

Notes

1 Christopher T. Jespersen, American Images of China: 1931–1949 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), 28.

2 This research used the Wade-Giles system of spelling Chinese names and places. This was because the news magazine articles studied for this research used this system during the time of their publication.

3 W. A. Swanberg, Luce and His Empire (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972), 2–6.

4 Ibid., 6–7, 184.

5 U.S. News & World Report was U.S. News until 1949. Publisher David Lawrence started U.S. News in 1933. In 1946, he started another publication, World Report. Lawrence merged the two in 1948 to form U.S. News & World Report. This research will use the appropriate title for the publication depending on the year referenced.

6 One such critic was Isaiah Wilner. His book recounts the Luce and Briton Hadden friendship during the start-up and early years of Time, but the author does not touch on Luce and his influence on the reporting of China. Isaiah Wilner, The Man Time Forgot: A Tale of Genius, Betrayal, and the Creation of Time Magazine (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 184–6.

7 Swanberg, Luce and His Empire, 252.

8 Alan Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century (New York: Knopf, 2010), 299.

9 Ibid.

10 Sterling Seagrave, The Soong Dynasty (New York: Harper & Row, 1985), 232.

11 Jespersen, American Images of China, 28, 43–44.

12 Patricia Neils, China Images in the Life and Times of Henry Luce (Savage, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1990), 292–4.

13 Ibid., 292–3.

14 James L. Baughman, Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media (Boston: Twayne, 1987), 156.

15 Robert E. Herzstein, Henry R. Luce (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994), 419. Robert E. Herzstein, Henry R. Luce, Time and the American Crusade in Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).

16 The relationship between Theodore White and Luce was complicated. It evolved from one of great respect to disillusion. The relationship is best captured in Thomas Griffith’s book. Thomas Griffith, Harry and Teddy (New York: Random House, 1995), 126.

17 Perlmutter analyzed visual images of China contained in Time magazine from 1949 to 1973, which fell out of the time frame of this research. However, his views on Luce were relevant. David D. Perlmutter, Picturing China in the American Press: The Visual Portrayal of Sino-American Relations in Time Magazine (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007), 1–11. Kobler’s book was a biography of Luce, and Time’s China reportage was not a focus of this publication. John Kobler, Luce: His Time, Life and Fortune (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1968). Michael H. Hunt, “East Asia in Henry Luce’s ‘American Century’,” Diplomatic History 23, no. 2 (Spring 1999): 321–53.

18 Jay Taylor, The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2011), 152.

19 Jonathan Fenby, Chiang Kai-shek: China’s Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003), 366.

20 In Journalism Quarterly, Daniel Riffe and Yu Yang-Chou explored “topic emphasis” and “favorableness” in covering Mao Tse-tung and Chiang. Yu Yang-Chou and Daniel Riffle, “Chiang and Mao in U.S. News Magazines,” Journalism Quarterly 66 (Winter 1989): 913–19.

21 There were other national magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post, the Atlantic, and Readers Digest, but these were not dedicated to news coverage. Baughman, Henry R. Luce, 53, 76–77.

22 Toward the end of the 1930s, Time’s circulation was approaching 900,000 copies per week. Newsweek had begun to establish itself as a legitimate competitor to Time with a circulation of approximately 250,000 while U.S. News was just under 70,000 in weekly circulation. By the late 1940s, weekly circulation for Time was more than 1,500,000, almost twice the figure for its primary competitor, Newsweek, and significantly more than U.S. News & World Report at approximately 450,000. Robert T. Elson, Time, Inc.: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise, 1923–1941 (New York: Atheneum, 1968), 449. Robert T. Elson, The World of Time, Inc.: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise, 1941–1960 (New York: Atheneum, 1973), 267. Theodore Peterson, Magazines in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1964), 334.

23 Stephen R. Mackinnon and Oris Friesen, China Reporting: An Oral History of American Journalism in the 1930s & 1940s (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 169.

24 Swanberg, Luce and His Empire, 214.

25 Neils, China Images, 7.

26 Swanberg, Luce and His Empire, 352.

27 The three eras are: Prewar (1936–1940), World War II (1941–1945), and the Chinese Civil War (1946–1949).

28 The three criteria for selection of the events were: (1) news that was significant to China and in part, to the world; (2) there had to be at least some involvement, either directly or indirectly, in the event by General Chiang; and (3) ideally, covered a fairly broad range of time.

29 Articles from the following issues were reviewed: Time and Newsweek – December 21, December 28, January 4, and January 11 issues (1936).

30 Articles from the following issues were reviewed: Time and Newsweek – January 3, January 10, January 17, and January 24 issues (1938).

31 Articles from the following issues were reviewed: Time and Newsweek – December 6, December 13, December 20, and December 27 issues; U.S. News – December 3, December 10, December 17, and December 24 issues (1943).

32 Articles from the following issues were reviewed: Time and Newsweek – November 6, November 13, November 20, and November 27 issues; U.S. News – November 3, November 10, November 17, and November 24 issues (1944).

33 Articles from the following issues were reviewed: Time and Newsweek – April 18, April 25, May 2, and May 9 issues; U.S. News & World Report – April 22, April 29, May 6, and May 13 issues (1949).

34 Articles from the following issues were reviewed: Time and Newsweek – October 3, October 10, October 17, and October 24 issues; U.S. News & World Report – October 7, October 14, October 21, and October 28 issues (1949).

35 Chiang Kai-shek was a very public and prominent individual in China for many years that go beyond the time frame established in this study. Many pages of news print have been devoted to covering him, his wife, and the Nationalist Party of China. For the most part, for each news magazine, there is consistency of the coverage within each of the three major periods of this research: prewar, World War II, and postwar. Thus, the researcher felt confident in selecting only two events per segment.

36 George Creel, chairman of the Committee on Public Information, coaxed journalists with a stream of news releases on which to write stories. There were also a selection of federal laws that would “punish” journalists who did not report in a way consistent with government values. Michael S. Sweeney, The Military and the Press: An Uneasy Truce (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2006), 35–37, 45.

37 Sweeney, The Military and the Press, 63.

38 Ibid., 71–73, 92.

39 Ibid., 93.

40 “Shoot Me! Says Supreme Commander of 400,000,000; Aroused China Awaits Solution of Year’s Most Incredible Drama,” Newsweek, December 26, 1936, 7.

41 “Shoot Me!” 8–9.

42 History has recognized the Shanghai massacre as one of the defining moments in the rancorous relations between the Nationalists and the Communists. Chiang colluded with the leadership of Shanghai’s infamous “Green Gang” to trick the Communists into thinking that Nationalist forces were there to protect workers and leftists at a Shanghai union meeting held at a guild hall on April 12, 1927. Hundreds were killed by the Nationalist troops and members of the “Green Gang.” During protests the following day, thousands more were slaughtered by the same two groups.

43 “Dictator Apologizes, Restores His Kidnaper to Post,” Newsweek, January 2, 1937, 10.

44 “Dictator Kidnapped,” Time, December 21, 1936, 14.

45 “Pain in the Heart,” Time, December 28, 1936, 14.

46 “Opium and Politics,” Time, January 11, 1937, 23.

47 No coverage of the Sian Incident was contained in U.S. News.

48 The contrast in portrayals is particularly the case with writers Swanberg, Seagrave, and Herzstein. These are among the harshest critics of Luce and Time magazine’s coverage of China.

49 The articles in the other three issues of Time reviewed revealed few specifics about General Chiang. The articles primarily focused on details of the fighting and the loss of cities to the Japanese, which reflected poorly on the general’s management of the Chinese war effort.

50 “Man and Wife of the Year,” Time, January 3, 1938, 14.

51 Ibid., 14.

52 Ibid., 15–16.

53 Ibid., 15.

54 Dr. Sun was the original visionary for the republic. Following the 1911 collapse of the Manchu empire (1644–1911) headed by Pu-Yi, the Chinese Republic was established in Nanking. Dr. Sun was announced as provisional president on January 1, 1912. Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1990), 275–81.

55 Many, including Time’s China correspondent, Theodore White, scoffed at the idea of Chiang as a disciple of Dr. Sun’s revolution: “The China of Chiang was a dictatorship complete with secret police, censorship, and no elections. The government rested on a four-legged stool—an army, a bureaucracy, the urban businessmen, the rural gentry.” Theodore H. White and Annalee Jacoby, Thunder Out of China (New York: Da Capo Press, 1946), 42.

56 Indeed, Chiang’s conversion would work to actualize Luce’s grand vision for China; the country would become Christian as well as defeat the Japanese and conquer the Communists. W. A. Swanberg, Luce and His Empire (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972), 184.

57 “Tokyo Apologizes to U.S., Speeds Up Conquest of China,” Newsweek, January 3, 1938, 9.

58 Ibid, 8.

59 No coverage of the Hangchow loss was contained in U.S. News.

60 Stalin is generally included when referring to this group of global leaders. Stalin did not attend the Cairo conference but joined both Roosevelt and Churchill in the follow-up session in Teheran.

61 “It had been Roosevelt’s idea to invite Chiang to Cairo. Churchill had resisted stubbornly, but the President insisted. . . . After investing so much money and material in China, FDR wanted the world to see Chiang as a great international statesman, a member of the Big Four, who shared private jokes with the American President.” Seagrave, 394.

62 “New Turn in the War: Strategy of Big Four,” U.S. News, December 10, 1943, 15.

63 “Chiang, FDR, Churchill Plan Destiny of Stolen Jap Empire,” Newsweek, December 6, 1943, 22.

64 “Big 4 Map Own Postwar Places as Well as Axis Annihilation,” Newsweek, December 13, 1943, 23.

65 Ibid., 25–26.

66 Chiang’s wife, Mei-ling, attended as the general’s translator and advisor.

67 “Big 4 Map Own Postwar Places as Well as Axis Annihilation,” 23.

68 “President Didn’t Like Egyptian Flies,” Newsweek, December 20, 1943, 37–39.

69 “The Big Parade,” Time, December 13, 1943, 27–28.

70 Ibid., 28.

71 “Tings” are two-eared, three-legged sacrificial vessels.

72 “Nine Tings of Yu,” Time, December 27, 1943, 32.

73 The “American Century” article appeared in the February 17, 1941 issue of Life. It outlined Luce’s vision for America’s role in the world. This vision gave him a direction and mission for the remainder of his life. Robert E. Herzstein, Henry R. Luce, 177–8.

74 “The New Turn in China: Effect on Relations with U.S,” U.S. News, November 10, 1944, 22.

75 Ibid., 22.

76 Ibid., 22–23.

77 Ibid., 23.

78 Seagrave called China’s Destiny the General’s own Mein Kampf: “It oozed so much bigotry and dementia that those translating it into English began taking sick leave, rather than face foreigners who were reading it.” Seagrave, The Soong Dynasty, 420.

79 “One Man’s Fight Against Corruption: Story Behind the Stilwell Incident,” Newsweek, November 13, 1944, 44.

80 Ibid., 44.

81 “Crisis,” Time, November 13, 1944, 42.

82 “Swift Disaster,” Time, March 2, 1949, 26.

83 “Communists Aim: All China Within the Year,” U.S. News & World Report, April 29, 1949, 24–25.

84 Newsweek’s reportage during this time included a half-column piece on Acting Premier Li Tsung-jen’s peace talks with the Chinese Communists in the April 25 issue and a two-page article in the May 2 issue on the Chinese Communists crossing the Yangtze into a range of cities, including Nanking.

85 “Defeat Along the Yangtze,” Newsweek, May 2, 1949, 24.

86 The century referenced began with the First Opium War in October 1839. The British Navy overwhelmed the Chinese navy. “Humiliated, China paid a huge indemnity, opened five additional ports to British trade and residence, and exempted British subjects from Chinese justice.” Seagrave, The Soong Dynasty, 4.

87 Taylor, The Generalissimo, 400.

88 “Peace Games,” Newsweek, April 25, 1949, 38.

89 “Defeat Along the Yangtze, Newsweek, May 2, 1949, 24.

90 “Swift Disaster,” Time, March 2, 1949, 26.

91 “Ultimatum,” Time, April 25, 1949, 30.

92 The articles in Time were in the October 3, October 10, and October 17 issues. The two articles in Newsweek were in the October 10 and October 24 issues.

93 “New Stars Over Peking,” Newsweek, October 10, 1949, 32–33.

94 Democratic Dictatorship,” Time, October 3, 1949, 24.

95 Ibid., 24.

96 “Teamwork,” Time, October 10, 1949, 28.

97 “Next: Chungking,” Time, October 24, 1949, 40.

98 In the study, the “Hostility” period was from 1949 to 1959; the “Transition” period was from 1960 through 1969; and the “Alliance” period was from 1970 to 1976. Yu and Riffe, 913–919.

99 On the other hand, the number of articles that were unfavorable toward Mao declined significantly over the twenty-four years.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel M. Haygood

Daniel Marshall Haygood, is an Associate Professor at Elon University’s School of Communications, teaching advertising, digital brand communications, sports information, and a range of other communications classes. He has twenty years of advertising experience, including twelve in account management at D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in the firm’s New York and Tokyo offices, working on accounts, such as Procter & Gamble, Mars, and Anheuser Busch. His research interests include advertising/media history and sports broadcasting history.

Glenn W. Scott

Glenn W. Scott, is an Associate Professor at Elon University’s School of Communications, teaching courses in journalism, media writing, research, international communications, and sports & media. He worked for more than two decades as a newspaper editor, metro columnist, and reporter at papers including the Honolulu Advertiser, The Modesto Bee, Nikkei Weekly, and Pacific Stars & Stripes (in Japan). His research interests focus on participatory journalism, commentary writing, and media practices in the Asia-Pacific region, and coverage of international sporting events.