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meant the Chaing Kai Shek outfit--the power to do it. Not all at once, but little by little, to electrify the country. That was talked about, oh, very spasmodically-- a little here, a little now.
This would be wartime?
No, this was before the wartime. The Chinese Japanese War was going on all the time, you see.
Of course, after the War began, it was intensified, but then it had a different bearing, a different meaning, naturally.
What was Roosevelt's view of Chiang?
Well, he met Chaing in Cairo. I don't know. Roosevelt was personally very anxious to involve China in the Conference that they were going to hold in Teheran. The Russians hit the ceiling, you see, about that. They just couldn't have it. And Winston Churchill advised Roosevelt to accept that. “These are the realities.”
I remember Roosevelt saying, “Well, after all, the British have a longer experience with the Chinese than we have. We've only known them in one capacity, and the British know them. I guess that's the best way. But we'll have to save his face, and save his feelings.”
So that was the reason for inviting Chiang and Madame
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