China Mission George Marshalls Unfinished War 1945 1947

As World War II came to an end, conflict in China between Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and Mao Zedong's Communists threatened to escalate into revolution and draw the United States into another war. General George Marshall undertook the pivotal mission to broker peace, build a Chinese democracy, and prevent a communist takeover in China. After thirteen months of grappling with Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek, Marshall's diplomacy ended in a shocking loss that roiled American politics and changed the course of global politics. General George MacArthur pronounced Marshall's abysmal failure as "one of the greatest blunders in American diplomatic history."

Daniel Kurtz-Phelan draws on eyewitness accounts, both personal and official, for a rich portrait of George Marshall and a spell-binding narrative of this exceptional but neglected turning point in U.S. foreign policy. A story of diplomatic wrangling, guerrilla warfare, spy craft, and charismatic personalities, Kurtz-Phelan "has performed a service in reviving this important episode with... aplomb, rigor and pace" (Wall Street Journal).

At the end of World War II, General George Marshall took on what he thought was a final mission--this time not to win a war, but to stop one. In China, conflict between Communists and Nationalists threatened to suck in the United States and escalate into revolution. Marshall's charge was to cross the Pacific, broker a peace, and prevent a Communist takeover, all while staving off World War III. At first, the results seemed miraculous. But as they started to come apart, Marshall was faced with a wrenching choice--one that would alter the course of the Cold War, define the US-China relationship, and spark one of the darkest-ever turns in American political life.

The China Mission offers a gripping, close-up view of the central figures of the time--from Marshall, Mao, and Chiang Kai-shek to Eisenhower, Truman, and MacArthur--as they stood face-to-face and struggled to make history, with consequences and lessons that echo today.