Henry R. Luce, Time , and the American Crusade in Asia

by Robert E. Herzstein

• ISBN13: 9780521543682
• ISBN10: 0521543681
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Henry Robinson Luce (1898-1967) founded Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. Born in China to missionary parents, Luce was a kind of lay preacher, anxious to mold the American mind and advance his ideological program: intervention, capitalism, democracy (when appropriate) and Christian activism. The most celebrated and influential editor of his day, Luce was also obsessed with the American mission in the world, and with China and East Asia, the place of his birth. Luce tried to 'sell' this mission to a sometimes reluctant public. A passionate anti-Communist interventionist, he also convinced Americans that the U.S. had perversely 'lost' China to the Communists. A fervent advocate of the Vietnam intervention, Luce, author of the American Century edited incoming cables so that magazines might conform to his ideas.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part I. From the American Century to the Cold War: 1. Henry Luce and China: prelude to an American Crusade

2. Learning to market Chiang's China

3. Bitter victory

4. China on the brink: what role for America?

Part II. Luce and the 'Loss' of China: 5. Cold War strategy: allies and enemies in the battle for China

6. Losing China: the hunt for culprits intensifies

7. Anti-communist allies in Asia: MacArthur and Rhee

8. McCarthy and Korea: crises and opportunities

9. The campaign for a wider war in Asia

10. Electing Eisenhower while fighting McCarthy

Part III. Time Inc., Eisenhower, and Asian Policy, 1952 1959: 11. Unwelcome moderation: Eisenhower's caution in East Asia

12. Keeping the pressure on Mao and Ho

Part IV. Time, Luce, and the Looming Disaster in Vietnam, 1960 1967: 13. Time Inc. and nation-making in Vietnam: from Kennedy to Johnson

14. Troubled crusade in Vietnam

15. The final years of Henry Luce's mission to Asia.