Frank W.Price, 1895-1974 : the role of an American missionary in Sino-U.S. relation

Abstract

This dissertation is a biography of American missionary Frank W. Price, friend and advisor to Madame and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and KMT official for two decades. Price was closer to Chiang than any other American, yet no one has attempted to unravel his role within Chiang’s government or his impact on Sino-U.S. relations. This dissertation makes that attempt, giving special attention to the years between 1937 and 1947, during which Price was most involved with Chiang and the KMT.

Groundbreaking research was undertaken in Taiwan, the United States, and China. New archives and family collections were used, and recently declassified documents were accessed in the United States through the Freedom of Information Act. Chiang’s diaries were utilized and interviews conducted with at least twenty individuals in China, the United States, and Taiwan, most of whom either knew Frank Price or whose parents or spouse worked with him. These interviews include Price’s son and niece.

In the final analysis evidence will reveal that though his ultimate policy impact was minimal, missionary Frank Price was a valued member of Chiang’s political inner circle, acting, for more than a decade, as a diplomatic backchannel between Chiang Kai-shek and President Roosevelt’s administration. The dissertation demonstrates that unconventional actors – missionaries specifically – may have been more involved in Sino-U.S. relations during China’s Nationalist period, particularly during the Second Sino-Japanese War, than has been previously supposed. It will also be asserted that Price’s role in the China Lobby indicts the KMT for secretly exerting influence on that lobby as early as 1938.