My Dad the U.S. China Marine

My Dad the U.S. China Marine

Friday, June 18, 2010

Ogden Mills Reid and the "Ticklish China Situation" November 1945

The Honolulu Star Bulletin featured an article in its November 12, 1945 edition. Besides the reference to the “ticklish China situation” in the headline, the name Ogden Mills Reid caught my eye.

I graduated with a Masters degree from Manhattanville College in August, 1990. To anyone who has been to the campus the most imposing structure is Reid Castle. The Reid Family, a wealthy high-society family in New York, owned this. Ogden Mills Reid was the son of Whitelaw Reid, who had purchased the New York Tribune from Andrew Greeley, son of Horace Greeley, its founder.

Go to this link for a biography on Ogden Mills Reid.

This link lists the Reid Family Papers held by the Library of Congress.

I also found this link to a profile of a limestone New York City townhouse once owned by the family. Presently it is the headquarters of New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

“The situation in China was described today as “most ticklish” by Ogden M. Reid, editor of the New York Herald Tribune."

“Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek is optimistic, but he knows he has a tough job on his hand,” Reid is quoted as saying. He also observed that the “revolutionaries are causing a certain amount of trouble,” and, “Our own officers know the situation is ticklish and are being mighty careful.

Reid was in China as well as Japan, Korea and the Philippines with his assistant Wilbur Forest. The entire tour lasted six weeks.

The article quotes Ogden Mills Reid stating that the American Marines were at Tsientsin (Tianjin) for two purposes:

1) To protect American lives and property.
2) To assist the Chinese in “putting the Japanese our of China.


The article references Reid’s praise for the work of General Douglas MacArthur in Japan.

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