The impact of “McCarthyism” in the McCarthy era on China

During the period when "McCarthyism" was at its most rampant, Sino-US relations were frozen by the Cold War. Under the influence of "McCarthyism", "anti-***" has become the only choice for the United States. McCarthy's attacks on the China issue caused the US administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson to adopt very rigid East Asia policies, and no one dared to initiate contact with the People's Republic of China.

In the United States, thousands of Chinese and Asians are suspected of being "spies." Not only were they illegally summoned and not allowed to send money to their relatives in China, they were even prohibited from speaking openly about their hometowns. Many of them were imprisoned, expelled, and even assassinated because they were accused of "sympathizing with the Communist Party." Qian Xuesen, a famous aerodynamicist working in the United States, was also subpoenaed by the FBI for being accused of participating in activities of the American Communist Party during the war. Since then, Qian Xuesen has repeatedly discovered that his personal letters have been opened, his home phone has been tapped, and his "national security license" has also been revoked. This showed that he could no longer continue to engage in jet propulsion research or even stay in the laboratory. Until leaving the United States in 1955, Qian Xuesen was restricted by the US Immigration Service and monitored by the FBI. Due to restrictions by the U.S. government, Qian Xuesen not only did not bring back any research materials when he returned to China, he did not even bring back some personal belongings.

Edgar Snow, an old friend of the Chinese people, was also persecuted by "McCarthyism" and had to leave his motherland with his wife and go to Switzerland. On February 19, 1972, Snooker died in Geneva. After Snow's death, his family was cleaning out his letters and discovered that he had left a last word: to leave part of his ashes in China because he loved China; to send the other half of his ashes back to the United States and to be buried on the banks of the Hudson River in his hometown. .