John Birch, China, and the Cold War
Terry Lautz will discuss his new book (Oxford, 2016), the first authoritative study of John Birch, who was a missionary and soldier in China during the Second World War. Thirteen years after his death in a dispute with Chinese Communist soldiers, he became the name-sake of the controversial right-wing John Birch Society. Lautz argues that the perceived martyrdom of John Birch is a misguided view, appropriated for a Cold War political cause.
Terry Lautz is a Moynihan Research Fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and former vice president of the Henry Luce Foundation. He is also a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, trustee and chair of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously chaired the boards of the Lingnan Foundation and the Yale-China Association. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, and holds MA and PhD degrees from Stanford University.
