John Paton Davies

John Paton Davies, Jr. (born April 6, 1908 in Kiating , Sichuan Province , China , † December 23, 1999 in Asheville , North Carolina , USA ) was an American diplomat who had to quit during the McCarthy era .

As one of the Far East experts at the US State Department, Davies was the victim of attacks by the so-called “ China Lobby ” during the McCarthy era . They tried to portray him as communist sympathizers, as a spy, he and other "China Hands" for the "loss of China" ( "loss of China" to blame) to the Chinese Communists. In total, Davies was subjected to a so-called loyalty test (checking his loyalty to the state) nine times, none of which gave any indications of his alleged disloyalty to the communist movement. Despite all this, right-wing conservative politicians in the “ China Lobby ” continued to exert pressure on the government and the State Department until Davies was dismissed in 1954 by then Foreign Minister John Foster Dulles . It was not until 1969 that he was finally acquitted of all suspicions and fully rehabilitated.

Life

Davies was born in Kiating, Sichuan Province, China to John Paton Davies, Sr. and his wife Helen Elizabeth (née MacNeil). His parents were (Baptist) missionaries. He attended the University of Wisconsin (-Madison) Experimental College for two years , then went to Yanjing University , Beijing for one year . He graduated from Columbia University in 1931 after another year of study . He then worked for the United States Foreign Service. In 1933 he was sent to China. In the following years he took care of American interests in Kunming , Beijing , Mukden and Hankou , observed the advance of the Japanese armed forces in China, and helped u. a. evacuate American civilians from Japanese forces. In Hankou - at that time the capital of the nationalists ( Kuomintang ) - he met with leading communists. He witnessed the defeats inflicted on the National Chinese armed forces by the Japanese forces as well as the excessive attacks by Japanese soldiers. When the Japanese forces invaded Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 , Davies was in Washington working in the China division of the US State Department. The opportunity arose to serve on the staff of General Joseph Stilwell , who had just been appointed Commander of the American Forces in the China-Burma-India theater (CBI). In March 1942, Davies arrived in the Sino-Burmese-Indian theater of war and then worked as General Joseph Stilwell's political attaché . During a brief vacation in Washington, DC, he married Patricia Grady on August 24, 1942 . Then he returned to India. He served under Stilwell until he was recalled in October 1944 (due to intrigues by the then American ambassador to China, Patrick Jay Hurley ).

Medal of Freedom

On August 2, 1943, Davies was with 17 other passengers on board a C-46 transport aircraft on a flight from China to India. The aircraft's engines failed and the only way to save the passengers was to parachute. It took over a month for the group to find their way out of the Burma jungle. All members of the group testified that it was thanks to the extraordinary courage, ingenuity, and perseverance of John Paton Davies that the entire group was saved. For this outstanding achievement Davies was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1948 . One of the group, war correspondent Eric Sevareid, said many years later:

"I thought then, as I think now, that if ever again I were in deep trouble, the man I would want to be with would be this particular man."

( "Then as now, the following applies to me: If I should ever get into big trouble again, then I wish I had this extraordinary man by my side." )