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UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN THE ERA OF THE VIETNAM WAR, 1961-1969 By Charles John Pellegrin A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Department of History Mississippi State, Mississippi May 2005 Copyright by Charles John Pellegrin 2005 UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN THE ERA OF THE VIETNAM WAR, 1961-1969 By Charles John Pellegrin Approved: _____________________________ _____________________________ Richard V. Damms Shu-hui Wu Associate Professor of History Associate Professor of History (Director of Dissertation) (Committee Member) _____________________________ _____________________________ Johnpeter H. Grill William Anthony Hay Professor of History Assistant Professor of History (Committee Member) (Committee Member) _____________________________ _____________________________ Peter C. Messer Godfrey N. Uzoigwe Assistant Professor of History Head of the Department of History Director of Graduate Studies in History (Committee Member) _____________________________ Philip B. Oldham Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Name: Charles John Pellegrin Date of Degree: May 7, 2005 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: History Major Professor: Dr. Richard V. Damms Title of Study: UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN THE ERA OF THE VIETNAM WAR, 1961-1969 Pages in Study: 284 Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History In the 1950s, the Republic of China (ROC) on the island of Taiwan was a Cold War ally of the United States. Led by President Chiang Kai-shek and his ruling Kuomintang Party, the ROC received military, financial, and humanitarian assistance from the U.S., and enjoyed support in the White House, from the Departments of State and Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Democratic and Republican Parties. President Chiang even employed public relations firms and political pressure groups to help generate public support and to sway American policymakers to favor his cause. By the end of the 1970s, however, the ROC had lost its seat in the United Nations and no longer maintained formal diplomatic relations with the United States. Why would the United States abandon a long-standing World War II ally, recipient of American aid, and fellow anti-communist? The 1960s proved to be a pivotal decade in the diplomatic and military relationship between the United States and the ROC. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, both Democrats, publicly promised support for Chiang and the Chinese Nationalists on Taiwan. Chiang hoped to secure continued military aid and diplomatic support by relying upon allies in the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, and in the U.S. Congress, and even occasionally making threats to take actions detrimental to American policy. Throughout the 1960s, the U.S.-ROC relationship was tested by events in the United Nations, the Taiwan Strait, and Southeast Asia. By the end of the decade, the ROC had lost millions in American aid and the United States had publicly started to consider normalizing relations with the People’s Republic of China. This dissertation will show that U.S.-ROC relations in the 1960s deteriorated due to a combination of factors. The Vietnam War was one of several factors that helped bring an end to formal American relations with the Republic of China. The Vietnam War caused a conflict of interest, whereby American containment of communism in Southeast Asia clashed with ROC plans to maintain its international legitimacy and to restore its rule over all China. Additionally, bureaucratic changes within the State Department, the demise and ineffectiveness of the China Lobby, and the changing make-up of the United Nations resulting from decolonization also contributed to the decline of U.S.-ROC relations. DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this research to my wife, Ronnette Chouest-Pellegrin, whose love, patience, and sacrifice strengthened me throughout the research and completion of this project. -ii- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people to thank who have contributed significantly to this project and to my Ph.D. program in general. First, I would like to thank Dr. Richard V. Damms, my dissertation director and mentor, for his endless patience and professional guidance during the course of this project. His suggestions, along with those made by Dr. Lorenzo Crowell, Dr. William Anthony Hay, Dr. Johnpeter Grill, Dr. Shu-hui Wu, and Dr. Peter Messer have made me a better historian and writer. Dr. Christoph Giebel of the University of Washington, Dr. Emily Hill of Queen’s University, and Dr. Shu-hui Wu deserve special mention for cementing my interest in the history of modern China. Members of the staff at Mitchell Memorial Library also contributed significantly to this project. Dr. Mattie Sink, Manuscripts Division Coordinator, and Dr. Michael Ballard, Dr. Craig Piper, and Ms. Betty Self provided tremendous assistance to me in the beginning phases of the research. Ms. Christine Fletcher and Ms. Brenda Valentine deserve special thanks for their assistance in locating government documents and hard-to- find newspapers, dissertations and monographs. This project would not have been possible without generous research grants from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, and the Department of History at Mississippi State University. -iii- LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACPA – American China Policy Association AJE – Allen J. Ellender Collection, Allen J. Ellender Library, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA ARVN – Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) CAT – China Air Transport CCK – Ching Chuan Kang Airbase, Kungkwan, Taiwan, Republic of China CCP – Chinese Communist Party ChiComs – Chinese Communists Chirep – Chinese representation in the United Nations CIA – Central Intelligence Agency CINCPAC – Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Forces COOM – Committee of One Million Against the Admission of Red China into the United Nations D – Democratic Party ECOSOC – United Nations Economic and Social Council FAJ – Files of Alfred Jenkins, Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, TX FRUS – Foreign Relations of the United States GNP – Gross National Product GRC – Government of the Republic of China HSCF – Head of State Correspondence File, Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, TX IBMND – Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense (Republic of China) JCS – Joint Chiefs of Staff JFKL – John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA JSM – John C. Stennis Collection, Congressional and Political Research Center, Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS -iv- KMT – Kuomintang Party LBJL – Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, TX LST – Landing Ship Tank MAAG – Military Assistance and Advisory Group MAP – Military Assistance Program MLC – Marvin Liebman Collection, Hoover Institution of War, Peace and Revolution Library and Archives, Stanford University, Stanford, CA NARA II – National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD NIE – National Intelligence Estimate NLF – National Liberation Front, or Viet Cong NSC – National Security Council NSF – National Security Files POF, DA – President’s Office Files, Departments and Agencies, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA PRC – People’s Republic of China R – Republican Party R&R – Rest and relaxation RG 59 – Record Group 59, Department of State, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD ROC – Republic of China ROK – Republic of Korea (South Korea) RRC – Richard B. Russell, Jr., Collection, Richard B. Russell, Jr., Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA SEATO – Southeast Asia Treaty Organization UN – United Nations UNGA – United Nations General Assembly U.S. – United States USAID – United States Agency for International Development USG – United States Government USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics USUN NY – United States delegation to the United Nations, New York, NY WJC – Walter Judd Collection, Hoover Institution of War, Peace and Revolution Library and Archives, Stanford University, Stanford, CA -v- TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ...................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................... iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................... 1 The Setting ................................................ 1 Thesis .................................................... 3 Historiography ............................................. 6 Primary Sources ............................................ 17 II. PROLOGUE: U.S. RELATIONS WITH THE ROC, 1949-61 ...................................... 19 The Coming of the ROC in Taiwan and the Role of the U.S. During The Transition ................ 20 The China Lobby and the “Who Lost China” Debate ................................. 26 The ROC and the Truman Administration ........................ 32 The Korean War: Korea, China, Taiwan, and the United States. ............................. 35 The ROC and the Eisenhower Administration .................... 38 Vietnam and U.S.-ROC Relations .............................. 47 The Committee of One Million ................................

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