811.003 Wallace, Henry A./53a: Telegram
The Secretary of State of the Ambassador in China (Gauss)
609. The Vice President expects to arrive in Chungking on or about June 23 from Tihwa where he will have arrived the previous day. After a 3-day visit he will leave Chungking for Kunming. If practicable, he will visit a number of places in the southwest area and then proceed directly to Chengtu where he will spend a day or so. From Chengtu he will proceed to Sian and Lanchow from whence he will commence the return trip. Duration of stay in China will be approximately 10 days. Prior to arrival in China he will spend about a month in travelling in Siberia.
He hopes to visit agricultural stations and rural centers in which he is particularly interested. Arrangements are being made for him to visit with U. S. Army personnel. In Chungking he will of course make the necessary official calls and attend such social functions as you deem it necessary for him to attend. Exclusive of the first evening, which he expects to spend with you, he will have only two evenings in the city. He would like to have time while in Chungking to visit points of interest in connection with agricultural development and the industrial cooperatives. He would therefore wish to keep social functions at a minimum.
The Vice President will be accompanied by Mr. Vincent, Mr. Lattimore29 and Mr. Hazard. The latter is acting as interpreter for the Siberian portion of the trip. There will also be Army plane crew, numbering about 10 officers.
Please inform President Chiang and the Foreign Minister of the personnel accompanying the Vice President and, in strict confidence, of the itinerary as outlined above but do not mention specific dates unless you consider it essential to do so. You might state simply that he hopes to arrive in China and in Chungking (where he will spend 3 days) shortly after June 20 and will be in China approximately 10 days, adding that later it will be possible to name the exact date of his arrival at Chungking.
For the time being it is desired that there be no publicity regarding the plans outlined above.
- Owen Lattimore, Deputy Director of Pacific Operations, Office of War Information.↩