Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Anna Chennault

Anna Chennault, (Chinese name Chen Xiangmei (陳香梅), also known as Anna Chan Chennault/Anna Chen Chennault) is the widow of World War II aviation hero Claire Lee Chennault. She is "a very busy lady", and has had an illustrious career in her own right.

History

Born in Beijing, China on June 23, 1925, Chen Xiangmei "received a B.A. degree in Chinese from Lingnan University in Hong Kong in 1944, and an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Chungang in Seoul, Korea in 1967". She "began her career as a journalist, serving as a war correspondent for the Central News Agency from 1944 to 1948. She was a feature writer for the Hsin Ming Daily News in Shanghai, China from 1944 to 1949." Chen Xiangmei was married in 1947 to Claire Lee Chennault, who was more than 32 years her senior and died in 1958. She has two children, Claire Anna and Cynthia Louise. Her husband's death has not seemed to have slowed her career: "she served as a special correspondent for the Central News Agency from 1965 to the present [1999] and as a U.S. correspondent for the Hsin Shen Daily News from 1958 to the present [1999]. In addition, she was a broadcaster for the Voice of America from 1963 to 1966." In addition, Chen Xiangmei served as an editor and public relations officer for the Civil Air Transport in Taipei, Taiwan, from 1946 until 1957. After her husband's death, Chennault was vice-president of international affairs for the Flying Tiger Line. "She has served as president of TAC International from 1976 to the present [1999]."

"Chennault has been a member of the President's Advisory Committee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since 1970...served as a member of the United States National Committee for UNESCO from 1970 to the present [1999]...as president of Chinese Refugee Relief from 1962 to 1970 and has served as president of the General Claire Chennault Foundation from 1960 to the present [1999]."

Chennault "has served as a committeewoman of the Washington, D.C. Republican Party since 1960...was the founder and chairperson of the National Republican Asian Assembly" and has advocated greater participation in political affairs by Chinese- and other Asian-Americans, and also has discussed relations between the U.S. and China.

Chennault played a crucial role on behalf of the Nixon campaign in the wrecking of the 1968 Paris peace talks which could have ended the Vietnam War. She arranged the contact with South Vietnamese Ambassador Bui Diem whom Richard Nixon met in secret from July 1968 in New York. It was through Chennault's intercession that Nixon advised Saigon to refuse participation in the talks, promising a better deal once elected. Records of FBI wiretaps show that Chennault phoned Bui Diem on November 2 with the message "hold on, we are gonna win." President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu obliged and the talks achieved almost no progress by the time Johnson left office.

Awards

The Freedom Award of the Order of Lafayette (1966)
The Freedom Award from the Free China Association (1966)
The Award of Honor from the Chinese-American Alliance (1971)

Books

Catherine Forslund, Anna Chennault: Informal Diplomacy and Asian Relations (2002) ISBN 0-8420-2833-1
Hyung-chan Kim, chief editor, Distinguished Asian Americans, A Biographical Dictionary, Greenwood Press (1999), pp. 55, 56.