In This Review

Harry Truman's China Policy: Mccarthyism and the Diplomacy of Hysteria, 1947-1951
Harry Truman's China Policy: Mccarthyism and the Diplomacy of Hysteria, 1947-1951
By Lewis Mccarroll Purifoy
New Viewpoints, 1977, 316 pp

The author argues, on the basis of familiar published sources, that the Truman Administration acted against its better judgment in pursuing an antagonistic policy toward Communist China. The reason: McCarthyite pressure. A good contrary case could be made that American policy would have been fundamentally the same, Joe McCarthy or no.

More: