A Thousand Springs; The Biography of a Marriage

New York: Paul S. Eriksson, Inc, 1970. Eighth Printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good/Good. xiv, 318, [4] pages. Illustrations. Some wear to board corners. Inscribed by the author on the fep. Inscription reads: To dear Cynthia with affection Anna Chennault Christmas, 1978 Washington D. C. Introduction by Lin Yutang. Anna Chennault, born Chan Sheng Mai, later spelled Chen Xiangmei (actual birth year 1923, but reported as June 23, 1925 - March 30, 2018), also known as Anna Chan Chennault or Anna Chen Chennault, was a war correspondent and prominent Republican member of the U.S. China Lobby. She was married to American World War II aviator General Claire Chennault. Controversy surrounds Anna Chennault for the crucial role she may have played on behalf of Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign in seeking to delay the Vietnam War peace negotiations, in order to boost Nixon's chances for victory. Chen Xiangmei and Chennault, who was 30 years her senior, married in December 1947. In 1946, Chennault had divorced his first wife. After the war her husband was somewhat of a celebrity. Anna Chennault worked as a publicist for Civil Air Transport in Taipei, Taiwan (1946-1957), as vice president of international affairs for the Flying Tiger Line and as president of TAC International (from 1976). In 1960, Chennault gained her first political experience when she campaigned for Richard Nixon, being used as the Republicans' principal campaigner among Chinese-Americans. In the 1968 election, Chennault served as the chairwoman of the Republican Women for Nixon Committee. Derived from a Kirkus review: Anna Chan at 19 was the newest and youngest member of the Kunming bureau of the Chinese Central News Agency. Her first big assignment was covering the human interest angle of the U.S. 14th Air Force's participation in the Sino-Japanese War. The most interesting part of the story was, of course, Major General Claire Lee Chennault, the Flying Tiger. From their first meeting, a bond of friendship grew between the daughter of China's consul in San Francisco and the formidable general, whose family were French-American pioneer stock. When love became too strong to ignore, he found ways to overcome the multiple barriers of race, religion, and age. Once married, they faced the strenuous task of fighting the Communist takeover of China by building up his new airline (the "most shot-at" CAT) to help stimulate the country's economy by transporting goods and to save lives by airlifts and rescue missions. Their close ties with Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, their struggle to inform the Free World of the significance of the Communist menace, and Chennault's relationship to other American military figures of the period are the backdrop of this love story.