Table Of ContentMao’s China, McCarthy’s America, and the
Persecution of John S. Service
HONORABLE SURVIVOR weaves
John S. Service’s extraordinary story
into the fabric of a watershed moment in
our history when World War n was end-
ing, the Cold War was dawning, and the
McCarthy era was beginning. A true tale
of intrigue, adventure, persecution, and
redemption—and of the love of a loyal
American wife and a Chinese lover—
this biography of Jack Service tells the
story of an idealistic U.S. Foreign Ser-
vice officer in wartime China who early
on predicted Mao Zedong’s successful
revolution. His prescient reports went
unheeded by U.S. policy makers, and
later he became Senator Joseph McCar-
thy’s first victim. The author describes
Service’s long fight to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which ordered him reinstated,
and reveals how his renewed career was
derailed by anti-communist crusaders,
the China lobby, the FBI, and Chiang Kai-
shek’s secret police.
Born and raised in China by YMCA mis-
sionaries, Service became America’s
key liaison with the Communist Chinese
when Gen. Joseph Stilwell wanted their
help against the Japanese. Later, he
became a target of revenge for the
Nationalist Chinese, a convenient scape-
goat for American politicians eager to
advance their careers, and a “person of
interest” to J. Edgar Hoover for more
than a quarter century. Joiner was
given special access to Service’s private
papers and photographs and gained ac-
cess to FBI, CIA, and State Department
security records and to confidential
transcripts of congressional hearings
and federal loyalty review boards. Al-
though newly released Soviet and U.S.
documents demonstrate that some of
his wartime associates were in fact iden-
tified as communist spies or fellow trav-
elers, Joiner shows that Jack Service
was an honorable survivor innocent of
Senator McCarthy’s charges.
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SURVIVOR
Mao’s China, McCarthy’s America, and the
Persecution of John S. Service
LYNNE JOINER
NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS
Annapolis, Maryland
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
© 2009 by Lynne Joiner
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any informa-
tion storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Joiner, Lynne.
The honorable survivor : Mao’s China, McCarthy’s America, and the persecution of John S.
Service / Lynne Joiner,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59114-423-6 (alk. paper)
1. Service, John S. (John Stewart), 1909-1999. 2. Diplomats—United States—Biography.
3. United States—Foreign relations—China. 4. China—Foreign relations—United States.
5. United States—Foreign relations—1945-1989. 6. Anti-communist movements—United
States—History—20th century. 7. McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957. I. Title.
E748.S413J65 2009
973.9092—dc22
[B]
2009027765
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
14 13 12 11 10 09 98765432
First printing
To my mother and father;
who always encouraged me—and taught me the
value of the application of the seat of the pants
to the seat of the chair.
