[Cicero]

The lost cable was "one of the great ifs and harsh ironies of history," Ms. Tuchman wrote in her October 1972 essay, published in Foreign Affairs, titled "If Mao Had Come to Washington." Had Mao made the trip, Ms. Tuchman suggested, the U.S. might not have blindly backed the Nationalist government in China and aroused anger and mistrust in Mao. The Chinese might not have made common cause with the Soviets and, Ms. Tuchman wrote, "it is conceivable that there might have been no Korean War and no expansionist Chinese Communism." Even the war in Vietnam might never have happened, she wrote.

I think all this is extremely doubtful. Mao was Mao. He was a dedicated Communist--which in those days meant close relations with the U.S.S.R.--and he knew exactly what he wanted, which was a Communist Party takeover of China. The only real "might have been" lies elsewhere--if the Old China Hands and George Marshall had not expedited Mao's ascension to power at a later date.

[SJackson]

It's an interesting story, that's about all. A cable certainly could have been received, I'm sure he would have liked a meeting. If Roosevelt had received it in Jan, 45, Mao could have attended the Yalta Conference. Not sure that would have changed much, at least for the better. We might have given half of Japan to our new ally, Mao.