Reply #112: I do find the Gen. Stillwell recall story a bit implausible

[Douglas Carpenter]

Although I don't doubt that there are those who reported it.

According to Theodore H. White's book "In Search of History" which recalls Mr. White's years in China--Gen. Stillwell was infamous in many circles for his utter contempt for Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist government and openly advocated that the U.S. form an alliance with Mao Tse-tung and the Red Army. Why would those sympathetic with the Chinese Communist want Gen. Stillwell recalled and replaced with a staunch allie of Chiang Kai-shek?

As far as Vice President Wallace's seemingly rosy view of the Soviet Union, that was pretty standard fair coming out of the Administration when we were so closely allied with them in common cause against Nazi Germany. In 1943 at the request of the White House, Hollywood actually produced a movie, Mission to Moscow, based on the four years spent by the first U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joseph E Davies. In this film Stalin and the Soviet Union are presented in a flattering light. This was standard U.S. war time propaganda during that period.

Henry Wallace was a farmer, scientist, businessman and originally a Republican. He never ever held privately or publicly Communist or even Socialist sympathies. He did believe that peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union was both possible and advisable.

for more on Henry Wallace:

http://www.winrock.org/wallacecenter/wallace/bio.html