Anna Chennault

Anna Chennault
Born	Chen Xiangmei (陳香梅) June 23, 1925 (1925-06-23) (age 86) Beijing, China
Occupation	Journalism
Spouse(s)	World War II aviation hero Claire Lee Chennault
Children	Claire Anna and Cynthia Louise
Ethnicity	Chinese

Anna Chennault, (Chinese name Chen Xiangmei (陳香梅), also known as Anna Chan Chennault/Anna Chen Chennault) is the widow of World War II aviation hero Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault.

History

Chennault and wife Anna

Born in Beijing, China on June 23, 1925, Chen Xiangmei "received a B.A. degree in Chinese from Lingnan University in Hong Kong in 1944, and an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Chungang in Seoul, Korea in 1967". She "began her career as a journalist, serving as a war correspondent for the Central News Agency from 1944 to 1948. She was a feature writer for the Hsin Ming Daily News in Shanghai, China from 1944 to 1949." Chen Xiangmei was married in 1947 to Claire Lee Chennault, who was more than 32 years her senior and died in 1958. She has two children, Claire Anna (born in 1949) and Cynthia Louise (born in 1950). Her husband's death has not seemed to have slowed her career: "She served as a special correspondent for the Central News Agency from 1965 to the present [1999] and as a U.S. correspondent for the Hsin Shen Daily News from 1958 to the present [1999]. In addition, she was a broadcaster for the Voice of America from 1963 to 1966." In addition, Chen Xiangmei served as an editor and public relations officer for the Civil Air Transport in Taipei, Taiwan, from 1946 until 1957. After her husband's death, Chennault was vice-president of international affairs for the Flying Tiger Line. "She has served as president of TAC International from 1976 to the present [1999]."

"Chennault has been a member of the President's Advisory Committee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since 1970...served as a member of the United States National Committee for UNESCO from 1970 to the present [1999]...as president of Chinese Refugee Relief from 1962 to 1970 and has served as president of the General Claire Chennault Foundation from 1960 to the present [1999]."^[1]

Chennault "has served as a committeewoman of the Washington, D.C. Republican Party since 1960...was the founder and chairperson of the National Republican Asian Assembly" and has advocated greater participation in political affairs by Chinese- and other Asian-Americans, and also has discussed relations between the U.S. and China.

She has also promoted her husband's legacy. In 1976, she came to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a ceremony honoring Chennault hosted by the city Mayor-President W.W. Dumas and then Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. Chennault grew up near Waterproof and Ferriday, Louisiana.^[2]

Role in the Nixon campaign sabotage of Paris Peace Accords

Recorded in Nixon, A Life, by Jonathan Aitken, notes of Patrick Hillings, the former congressman accompanying the candidate's 1967 trip to Taipei, Nixon interjected just after an unexpected encounter with Mrs. Chennault "Get her away from me, Hillings, she's a chatterbox." Yet according to records of President Lyndon B. Johnson's secret monitoring of South Vietnamese officials and his political foes, Anna Chennault played a crucial role on behalf of the Nixon campaign^[3][4] which attempted to sabotage of the 1968 Paris peace talks which could have ended the Vietnam War.^[5] She arranged the contact with South Vietnamese Ambassador Bui Diem whom Richard Nixon met in secret in July 1968 in New York.^[6] It was through Chennault's intercession^[7][8] that the Nixon campaign advised Saigon to refuse participation in the talks, promising a better deal once elected.^[9][10][11] Records of FBI wiretaps show that Chennault phoned Bui Diem on November 2 with the message "hold on, we are gonna win."^[12][13] "The tactic ‘worked’, in that the South Vietnamese junta withdrew from the talks on the eve of the election, thereby destroying the peace initiative on which the Democrats had based their campaign. "^[14] Before the elections President Johnson “suspected (…) Richard Nixon, of political sabotage^[15] that he called treason”.^[16] In part because Nixon won the presidency, no one was ever prosecuted for this alleged crime.^[17][18][19]

Awards

• The Freedom Award of the Order of Lafayette (1966)
• The Freedom Award from the Free China Association (1966)
• The Award of Honor from the Chinese-American Alliance (1971)

Books

• Catherine Forslund, Anna Chennault: Informal Diplomacy and Asian Relations (2002) ISBN 0-8420-2833-1
• Hyung-chan Kim, chief editor, Distinguished Asian Americans, A Biographical Dictionary, Greenwood Press (1999), pp. 55, 56.

Bibliography

Anna Chennault has written several books:

• Anna Chennault. Chennault and the Flying Tigers: Way of a Fighter (January 1, 1963 ed.). New York, NY Paul S. Eriksson, Inc. B001YUDCZA. 
• Anna Chennault. A Thousand Springs: The Biography of a Marriage (January 1, 1962 ed.). New York, NY Paul S. Eriksson, Inc. B000JD0KCQ. 
• Anna Chennault. The Education of Anna (1980 ed.). Times Books; Second Printing edition. pp. 242. ISBN 0812908449. 
• The Education of Anna (1980)
• Song of Yesterday (1961) in Chinese
• M.E.E. (1963) in Chinese
• My Two Worlds (1965) in Chinese
• The Other Half (1966) in Chinese
• Letters from the U.S.A. (1967)
• Journey among Friends and Strangers (1978, Chinese edition)

Membership

• National League of America
• PEN Women
• Writer's Association
• Free China Writer's Association
• 14th Air Force Association
• USAF Wives Club
• Flying Tiger Association
• American Newspaper Women's Club of Washington
• Theta Sigma Phi
• National Military Family Association, founder and chairperson
• Committee of 100

References

1. ^ Franklin Ng, "Anna Chen Chennault," Distinguished Asian Americans: A Biographical Dictionary, Hyung-chan Kim, ed., Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT, 1999, p.55
2. ^ "Louisiana Historical Photographs Collection of the State Library". louisdl.louislibraries.org. http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=/LHP&CISOBOX1=Special&CISOSORT=title%7Cf. Retrieved November 27, 2009. 
3. ^ Robert “KC” Johnson. “Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal”. History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording of President Johnson: “We have found that our friend, the Republican nominee—our California friend [Richard Nixon] —has been playing on the outskirts with our enemies and our friends, both—our allies and the others. He’s been doing it through rather subterranean sources here.“
4. ^ Jules Witcover. The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political Beat (October 4, 2005 ed.). The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 368. ISBN 0801882478.  p131. “I tracked down Anna Chennault (…) she insisted she had acted under instructions from the Nixon campaign in contacting the Saigon regime. ‘The only people who knew about the whole operation,’ she told me, ‘were Nixon, John Mitchell [Nixon’s campaign manager] and John Tower (senator from Texas and Nixon campaign figure), and they're all dead. But they knew what I was doing. Anyone who knows about these thing knows I was getting orders to do these thing. I couldn’t do anything without instructions.’”.
5. ^ Clark M. Clifford. Counsel to the President: A Memoir (May 21, 1991 ed.). Random House. pp. 709. ISBN 0394569954.  p. 582. ”The activities of the Nixon team went far beyond the bounds of justifiable political combat. It constituted direct interference in the activities of the executive branch and the responsibilities of the Chief Executive, the only people with authority to negotiate on behalf of the nation. The activities of the Nixon campaign constituted a gross, even potentially illegal, interference in the security affairs of the nation by private individuals.”
6. ^ Diem Bui with David Chanoff. In the Jaws of History (April 1, 1999 ed.). Indiana University Press. pp. 367. ISBN 0253213010.  p. 237. Waiting for me in the lobby was Anna Chennault. A few minutes later I was being introduced to Nixon and john Mitchell, his law partner and adviser. (…) Nixon (…) added that his staff would be in touch with me through john Mitchell and Anna Chennault.
7. ^ Seymour M. Hersh. “The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House”. Summit Books, 1983, p. 21. “A few days before the election, she wrote, Mitchell telephoned with an urgent message. ‘Anna,’ (Chennault) she quotes him as saying. ‘I'm speaking on behalf of Mr. Nixon. It's very important that our Vietnamese friends understand our Republican position and I hope you have made that clear to them.’”.
8. ^ Robert "KC" Johnson. “Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal”. History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording of President Johnson: “Mrs. [Anna] Chennault is contacting their [South Vietnamese] ambassador from time to time—seems to be kind of the go-between”
9. ^ Robert “KC” Johnson. “Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal”. History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording of President Johnson: “He (Richard Nixon) has been saying to the allies that ‘you’re going to get sold out. Watch Yalta, and Potsdam, and two Berlins, and everything. And they’re [the Johnson administration] going to recognize the NLF. I [Nixon] don’t have to do that. You better not give away your liberty just a few hours before I can preserve it for you.’”
10. ^ Robert "KC" Johnson. “Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal”. History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording of President Johnson: “The next thing that we got our teeth in was one of his associates—a fellow named [John] Mitchell, who is running his campaign, who’s the real Sherman Adams (Eisenhower’s chief of staff) of the operation, in effect said to a businessman that ‘we’re going to handle this like we handled the Fortas matter, unquote. We’re going to frustrate the President by saying to the South Vietnamese, and the Koreans, and the Thailanders [sic], “Beware of Johnson.”’ ‘At the same time, we’re going to say to Hanoi, “I [Nixon] can make a better deal than he (Johnson) has, because I’m fresh and new, and I don’t have to demand as much as he does in the light of past positions.”’”
11. ^ Diem Bui with David Chanoff. In the Jaws of History. Indiana University Press, 1999, p. 244.“I began reviewing the cables I had written to (Nguyen Van) Thieu (…). Among them, I found a cable from October 23 (…) in which I had said, ‘Many Republican friends have contacted me and encouraged us to stand firm. They were alarmed by press reports to the effect that you had already softened your position.’ In another cable, from October 27, I wrote, ‘I am regularly in touch with the Nixon entourage,’ by which I meant Anna Chennault, John Mitchell, and Senator (John) Tower.”
12. ^ Anthony Summers. Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon”. Viking, 2000, p. 302. “On November 2, the wiretapping of Ambassador Bui Diem's phone finally paid off. (Anna) Chennault, the FBI's Washington field office reported (see p. 303): CONTACTED VIETNAMESE AMBASSADOR BUI DIEM, AND ADVISED HIM THAT SHE HAD RECEIVED A MESSAGE FROM HER BOSS (NOT FURTHER IDENTIFIED), WHICH HER BOSS WANTED HER TO GIVE PERSONALLY TO THE AMBASSADOR. SHE SAID THE MESSAGE WAS THAT THE AMBASSADOR IS TO "HOLD ON, WE ARE GONNA WIN" AND THAT HER BOSS ALSO SAID "HOLD ON, HE UNDERSTANDS ALL OF IT. SHE REPEATED THAT THIS IS THE ONLY MESSAGE "HE SAID PLEASE TELL YOUR BOSS TO HOLD ON." SHE ADVISED THAT HER BOSS HAD JUST CALLED FROM NEW MEXICO.”.
13. ^ Robert “KC” Johnson. “Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal”. History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording of President Johnson: “They’re going around and implying to some of the embassies that they might get a better deal out of somebody that was not involved in this—the “somebody not involved” is what they refer to as “their boss.”(…) “Their boss” is the code word for Mr. Richard Nixon.”
14. ^ Christopher Hitchens. “The Trial of Henry Kissinger“. Verso, 2002, p.6.
15. ^ Thomas Powers. “The Man who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms & the CIA”. Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p.198. “during the week which ended Sunday, October 27 [1968], the National Security Agency intercepted a radio message from the South Vietnamese Embassy to Saigon explicitly urging (Nguyen Van) Thieu to stand fast against an agreement until after the election. As soon as Johnson learned of the cable he ordered the FBI to place Madame (Anna) Chennault under surveillance and to install a phone tap on the South Vietnamese Embassy”
16. ^ Mark Lisheron. “In tapes, LBJ accuses Nixon of treason”. Austin American-Statesman. December 05, 2008. “Johnson tells Sen. Everett Dirksen, the Republican minority leader, that it will be Nixon's responsibility if the South Vietnamese don't participate in the peace talks. ‘This is treason,’ LBJ says to Dirksen.”
17. ^ Robert “KC” Johnson. “Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal”. History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording of President Johnson: “Now, I can identify ‘em, because I know who’s doing this. I don’t want to identify it. I think it would shock America if a principal candidate was playing with a source like this on a matter this important. (…) I don’t want to do that.”
18. ^ Jules Witcover. “The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political Beat”. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, p131. “Johnson had turned over incriminating evidence about (Anna) Chennault’s activities to (Hubert) Humphrey's for use in the final days of the campaign. The idea was that such an act of treason would sink Nixon and elect Humphrey. But Humphrey declined to use it, partly because he felt he could not reveal the sources of the classified material (…) Later, in his memoir, Humphrey recounted a memo of his own at the time: "I wonder if I should have blown the whistle on Anna Chennault and Nixon. I wish [his italics] I could have been sure. Damn Thieu. Dragging his feet this past weekend hurt us. I wonder if that call did it. lf Nixon knew.”.
19. ^ Mark Lisheron. “In tapes, LBJ accuses Nixon of treason”. Austin American-Statesman. December 05, 2008. “Confronting Nixon by telephone on Nov. 3, Johnson outlines what had been alleged and how important it was to the conduct of the war for Nixon's people not to meddle. ‘My God,’ Nixon says to Johnson, ‘I would never do anything to encourage the South Vietnamese not to come to that conference table.’”

External links

Biography portal

• “The Trials of Henry Kissinger” documentary by Eugene Jarecki (video, 1h19). Interview of Anna Chennault featured in sequence on Nixon campaign sabotage of Paris Peace Accords: start 15min 20sec – end 20min 10sec.

Persondata
Name	Chennault, Anna
Alternative names
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Date of birth	June 23, 1925
Place of birth	Beijing, China
Date of death
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