In his book The Chinese Connection, historian Warren I. Cohen wrote that from 1900 to 1950 "there were fewer than one hundred Americans who were knowledgeable about Asia," and they "constituted an opinion-making elite concerning policy toward the region." Allman was among this group, and it is likely that he personally knew all of the other China experts, individuals generally called "old China hands."While such a small circle shows America's limited and arguably superficial understanding of China at that time, it does place Allman at the center of Sino-American dealings. On his 1950 curriculum vitae, Allman — in characteristic boldness — included among his list of references "any former American resident of China."
Allman's list of references indeed mapped out a vast intertwined network of alliances, and the following biographical sketch reveals a life that thrived through such connections. Allman acts as a window into U.S.-China relations, from the 1930s through the 1960s — a difficult period for many Americans to understand. The seemingly minor details of one man's life point to the many challenges, passions, and contradictions of America's efforts to maintain an open door — or foot — in China, and Allman offers a view into this Sino-American scene.
And so, here is where this blog starts: a consideration of Allman and his network of alliances and, even, enemies. My hope is to research and consider his network and efforts around the Third Force with the goal of finding some resonance today.
As Hanchao Lu suggested, Allman, though "virtually unknown" today, helped form "a particular type of social network" and "one that warrants further study." Such study, as this blog aims to show, reveals Allman's social network as vast, powerful, and intrinsically tied to the Third Force, a movement that began as an organic effort in China to combine the best elements of the Nationalists and the Communists with the will of the people in China but became a largely U.S.-backed anti-communist political warfare crusade.
In this particular image, we see Allman — our man in the middle. He is in Shanghai, at an all-but forgotten party, filled with ex pats, OSS operatives, and Flying Tigers. The image doesn't come from Allman's personal files; rather, it comes from a man whose grandfather was a Flying Tiger based in Shanghai. However, in Allman's personal records at the Hoover Institution and his bestselling autobiography, Shanghai Lawyer, he wrote about how he despised such events. They were dull (and if not dull, trouble the next day for someone), and they offered little chance to mingle with the local Chinese. Still, he joined them. And he never really looked miserable in the photos.
Sources:
Cohen, Warren I. The Chinese Connection: Roger S. Greene, Thomas W. Lamont, George E. Sokolsky and American-East Asian relations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978). 293-303.
Lu, Hanchao. "Review of At the Crossroads of Empires: Middlemen, Social Networks, and State-building in Republican Shanghai." The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 68, Issue 01, February 2009, 263-265.
Pinkele, Carl F. "Review of The Chinese Connection by Warren I. Cohen," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 448, The Academic Profession. (Mar. 1980) 151-152.
Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim. Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–1945 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1985) 501.
