"It Appears Impossible"

Last week U.S. Ambassador John Leighton Stuart and Special Envoy George Catlett Marshall wearily admitted that their efforts to bring peace to China had all but failed. In a joint statement from Nanking they said:

"[We] have been exploring together every possibility of terminating the present growing conflict. . . . The desire for peaceful solution . . . appears practically unanimous on the part of the people. The economic situation demands a prompt solution if a disastrous collapse is to be avoided. Fighting . . . threatens to engulf the country. . . .

"Both Government and Communist leaders are anxious to put an end to the fighting [but] ... it appears impossible for the two parties to reach a settlement on these issues which would permit complete cessation of hostilities in all of China."

Something between total civil war and "complete cessation of hostilities" seemed to be in prospect. Modern China draws a fainter line than the West between politics and war. The rival armies' maneuvers would affect the chances of political compromise, and political maneuvers might dictate military orders.

But even if the impending civil war had limited objectives, the U.S. faced a major setback in its policy of pacifying China.

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