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Title: China Defense Supplies records
Dates: 1940-1947
Collection Number: 2008C96
Creator: China Defense Supplies.
Collection Size:
46 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder
(21.4 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, and financial and personnel records relating to procurement
and shipment of war materiel from the United States to China during World War II, military operations in the China-Burma-India
Theater, and wartime diplomatic relations between China and the United States. The office files of William S. Youngman, Jr.,
President of China Defense Supplies, can be found throughout the collection.
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
English
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], China Defense Supplies records, [Box:number], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 2008, with an addition in 2011.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
Security-classified documents have been withdrawn from the collection pending declassification.
William Sterling Youngman papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Claire Lee Chennault papers, Hoover Institution Archives
T. V. (Tzu-wen) Soong papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Whiting Willauer papers, Princeton University Library Mudd Manuscripts
Library
China Defense Supplies, Inc. was the main agency for coordinating Lend-Lease aid to China from the United States. Incorporated
in the United States in 1941, China Defense Supplies was an organization of the Chinese government chaired by T. V. Soong,
but staffed by Americans and based in Washington, D.C.
In 1941, China Defense Supplies worked to improve transportation over the Burma Road, the main Lend-Lease supply route to
China. When the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942 impeded access to the Burma Road, China Defense Supplies initiated the
Emergency Air Transport Program to fly goods from India to China and helped to develop an air transport route over a stretch
of the Himalayas nicknamed "The Hump." China Defense Supplies also worked to secure supplies for the American Volunteer Group,
also known as the Flying Tigers.
As Soong spent increasingly less time in Washington during the latter years of the war, the decision was made to dissolve
China Defense Supplies in 1944 and establish a successor organization, the Chinese Supply Commission, which was also active
in obtaining reconstruction aid for China following the war. S. C. Wang became the chairman of this organization in September
1945, when the activities of the Chinese Supply Commission shifted from wartime supply to the procurement of materials needed
to rebuild China's economy.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, and financial and personnel records relating to procurement and
shipment of war materiel from the United States to China during World War II, military operations in the China-Burma-India
Theater, and wartime diplomatic relations between China and the United States. The office files of William S. Youngman, Jr.,
President of China Defense Supplies, can be found throughout the collection.
The
General office file contains administrative documents such as financial and personnel records, in addition to correspondence and files on individuals
employed by or associated with China Defense Supplies. This series includes a history of China Defense Supplies that provides
detailed information about its various projects and discusses strategy decisions in the China-Burma-India Theater. Also included
are daily reports, weekly information letters, and meeting minutes of the Planning Committee, which give an in-depth look
at the activities of China Defense Supplies. On July 1, 1944, the Chinese Supply Commission was established as a successor
organization to China Defense Supplies. Material created by the Chinese Supply Commission can be found within the general
office file, in the correspondence, and scattered throughout the collection; these materials can be identified by date. Material
organized by the activities of various departments of China Defense Supplies can be found in the
Departments file, which is divided into six departments: Aviation, Medical and Miscellaneous Supplies, Motor Transport/Transportation, Ordnance,
Signal Corps, and Traffic. For more material concerning the Motor Transport/Transportation Department, see the
Oversize materials.
The
Subject file contains information on projects that were central to the work of China Defense Supplies, such as Lend-Lease operations and
supply routes. Included are documents on the Emergency Air Transport Program and the Burma Road. The reports by Gordon Tweedy
and Don F. Harding (Box:42, folders 17-18 and Box:43, folders 1-3), mostly in the form of correspondence, discuss matters
of interest in India. Materials created by various China Defense Supplies departments may also be found in this file.
The
Transportation fuel executive file documents projects involving the Kansu Oil Fields and other fuel operations. Since fuel was integral to the work of both
the Motor Transport/Transportation Department and the Aviation Department, materials relevant to those departments can be
found in this file.
In addition to William Sterling Youngman's role as the president of China Defense Supplies, Youngman, who throughout the 1940s
worked as an attorney in a firm headed by Thomas G. ("Tommy the Cork") Corcoran, also played a significant role in the American
Volunteer Group (AVG). The American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, was a group that China Defense Supplies
worked with to transport aid to the Chinese government prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. The pilots of the American
Volunteer Group were paid through contracts with the Central Air Manufacturing Company (CAMCO), which also recruited pilots
and acted as an intermediary between the Chinese government and the American Volunteer Group. The
American Volunteer Group (AVG)/Central Air Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) file documents the financial relationship between CAMCO, the American Volunteer Group and China Defense Supplies. Materials include
audits, financial documents, personnel files, and a roster of American Volunteer Group pilots. The general files consist mainly
of correspondence, including letters from Claire Chennault and T. V. Soong.
When the American Volunteer Group disbanded in July 1942, some of its members joined the
Chinese National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). Pilots from the Chinese National Aviation Corporation transported Lend-Lease supplies from India to China over a treacherous
stretch of the Himalayan Mountains known as "The Hump." This series contains telegrams between Harold M. Bixby, Vice President
of Pan American Airways, and William L. Bond, who was employed by CNAC. Since the Aviation Department of China Defense Supplies
was involved in the work of both of these groups, materials on the American Volunteer Group and the Chinese National Aviation
Corporation can be found in the
Departments file under the Aviation Department subseries and under air transport in the
Subject file.
The
Speeches and writings series contains drafts of speeches by T. V. Soong, who served as chairman of China Defense Supplies. His correspondence can
be found throughout the collection.
The collection is organized into 8 series: General office file, Departments file, Transportation fuel executive file, American
Volunteer Group (AVG)/Central Air Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) file, Chinese National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) file, Speeches
and writings, Subject file, and Oversize materials.
Most folder headings are original
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Youngman, William Sterling, 1907-1994.
World War, 1939-1945--China.
World War, 1939-1945--United States.
World War, 1939-1945--Equipment and supplies.
World War, 1939-1945--Transportation.
Lend-lease operations (1941-1945)
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--China.
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Burma.
World War, 1939-1945--Diplomatic history.
United States--Foreign relations--China.
China--Foreign relations--United States.