In the midst of current trade disputes with—and heated pandemic fueled rhetoric about – China, it’s easy to forget the strange long history of US relations with China. Today’s #stampoftheday, a 4-cent stamp depicting Sun Yat-Sen issued on November 12, 1961, reminds me of that history, particularly America’s more than two-decade long refusal to recognize Communist Party rule of the People’s Republic of China.

The stamp’s symbolism, timing, and wording are all quite telling. Sun, who was born on November 12, 1866, was a Chinese politician, physician, and political philosopher, who served as the provisional first president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). He was often referred to as the “Father of the Nation” because of his central role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in the early 1900s. And he is unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders because he is claimed as a hero in both mainland China and in Taiwan.

So he was a powerful symbol of America’s nominal hopes for a friendly, democratically elected government in China. In fact, he was such a potent symbol that he also was pictured (along with Abraham Lincoln) on a 5-cent stamp issued in 1942 on the fifth anniversary of the Japanese invasion of China. Underneath Lincoln’s picture was a famous line from his Gettysburg Address (“of the people, by the people, and for the people). Under Sun’s picture (in Chinese), were his three principles: “nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood,” which supposedly were inspired by the Gettysburg Address. These were, by the way, the first time a US stamp had foreign characters as part of its design. (Unfortunately, my late father’s collection didn’t include a copy of this stamp.)

Sun, who had formed a tenuous alliance with China’s Community Party, died in 1925 and his successor Chiang Kai-shek battled with the Communists before the Japanese invasion, had a tenuous alliance with them during the war and then fought and lost to them after the war. In 1949, his government and army retreated to the island of Taiwan, about 112 miles off the southeast coast of China. Until 1979, the US government recognized his “Nationalist” government as the legitimate government for all of China.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, anti-Communist demagogues in Congress attacked and ultimately forced out key State Department officials who, when they served in China during and after the war, had accurately reported that Chiang Kai-Shek’s government was corrupt and was losing popular support. Their efforts were strongly backed by Henry Luce’s influential media holdings, notably Time and Life Magazines. The price these men paid for speaking to truth to power fascinated me when I was an undergraduate at Wesleyan University studying Chinese history with Vera Schwartz, a brilliant professor and charismatic teacher. (In fact, I wrote lengthy, and probably too verbose paper about them.)

The Nationalist government-in-exile generally had good relations with the Eisenhower administration. Moreover, according to notes taken by Clark Clifford, a senior Kennedy aide, in a meeting just before Kennedy was inaugurated, “Eisenhower made an ultimatum that he would publicly condemn the administration if Kennedy made any attempt to recognize the People’s Republic of China” the Communists ruling the mainland as the true government of China. According to historian Matthew Linton, “Having squeaked into the White House by a slim margin, a chastened Kennedy resolved to not attempt any China policy reform,” at least in his first term in office.

Kennedy also took several steps to emphasize his support for Chiang’s government, including inviting Nationalist Vice President Chen Chiang to make a state visit in the summer. During that visit, Kennedy publicly told Chen that in the fall the US would issue a stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of Sun Yat-Sen’s overthrow of the Manchu dynasty.

Even that gesture turned to out to have its challenges. The original designs for the stamp called for it to honor then”50th Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution.” The Nationalist government objected to this phrase on the grounds that it could be associated with the 1949 Communist revolution in mainland China. So the inscription was changed to “1911 Anniversary Republic of China 1961.”

Even with these changes, the Post Office Department received many complaints from citizens who thought the stamp supported Communism. In a letter created to address the complaints, the Post Office stated the stamp was issued as “a gesture of friendship toward free China” and Sun Yat-Sen “symbolized freedom and democracy.”

Today, the disputes are of a different nature, and seem to be well beyond the point where issuing a carefully worded stamp might be a useful gesture. And, of course, it would be gauche to issue such a stamp but then fail to deliver letters that used it in a timely fashion. Who knows: if it were handled correctly it might perhaps help alleviate the growing tensions between the two countries.

Be well, stay safe, fight for justice and work for peace.