The United States and the Chinese Revolution: 1949-1972

Richard W. Van Alstyne, a contributing editor of Current History, has contributed numerous articles to this magazine in the past. His article,“The WhitePaper and China,” in the October, 1949, issue of Current History and his most recent book, The United States and East Asia (London and New York: W. W. Norton, 1973), should be read as background for the present article. Also germane to the subject is his The Rising American Empire (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1960), reissued in paperback (Chicago, Quadrangle Books, 1965) now in its sixth printing. In addition he is the author of the following books: American Diplomacy in Action (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, reissued, 1968), Empire and Independence: The International History of the American Revolution (New York: John W.Wiley, 1965), Genesis of American Nationalism (Waltham, Mass: Blaisdell-Ginn, 1970). He gave them Commonwealth FundLectures in American History at the University of London in 1956, and was Senior Fulbright Fellow at the same institution in i960-1961.