Eve of a Hundred Midnights

by Bill Lascher

  Jessica Papin at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management shepherded this book, answered my ceaseless questions, and assuaged many worries, all without complaint or lack of good cheer. Meanwhile, Henry Ferris and Nick Amphlett at William Morrow expertly guided me as I honed this narrative into a work of which I am proud. Thank you to all.

  To the people of Chongqing, Beijing, Guangzhou, Jintian, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, Manila, Corregidor, Pola, and Cebu (and along the roads, rails, and ferry lines in between): thank you for happily welcoming me into your countries, cities, and homes. Specifically, thank you to Zhangrong (Jackie) for your hospitality and for easing my transition into China. I also want to thank Manuel L. “Manolo” Quezon III and Liana and Roberto Romulo, who helped me understand the Philippines, its history, and their families. Thank you as well to Carsten Schael of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong for making me feel welcome among the Press Hostel’s inheritors even after I flubbed our schedule. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t thank Shawna and Margaret at Oui Presse; their cookies, ceaseless warmth, and fermentation chats fueled much of this book.

  When I began this book, I reconnected with Lindsey Miller, an enthusiastic “liver” who helped me launch this project, even as she taught me to dance in the rain and savor farmers’ market tomatoes. She is missed. Lindsey and I also scrambled to the wreckage of the ship once known as the SS Melville Jacoby with Jake Cunningham, whose consistent friendship has been matched only by Libby Buchanan, Justin Messina, Aaron Hoholik, Monica Garcia, and Noah Rolff. Through encouraging letters she wrote from her own Pacific adventures, Megan Knize, herself a former Stanford Daily editor, pushed me to share Mel and Annalee’s story.

  Emily Kemper’s insistence that I couple my passion for this story with a plan to see it through spurred me to work hard enough to complete the book. I’d also like to thank Amanda Peacher and Thomas Schmidt, fellow writers who have coupled their professional encouragement with deep wells of loving friendship. Christina Cooke’s long camaraderie as a freelancer and nonfiction writer has been as welcome as her breathtaking prose. Saikat Chakrabarti made me look better than I deserve in head shots. Suzi Steffen shared fortifying enthusiasm for this project over Byways meals. Doug Kenck-Crispin has made history cool again and amplified my work. Manfred Elfstrom provided timely hospitality in Shenzhen, helped me make travel plans, and even remotely routed a confused taxi driver. Carla and Joe McGarvey (and Moose!) made scouring the National Archives and Library of Congress more bearable. So did Will and Patti Carrington. My incomparable schedule twin, sounding board, and confidant Katelyn Petroka hosted me (assisted by Tarzan and Nugget), as did longtime friends Laura Veuve, Peter Prows, and Constance Brichford (Biff too!). Andrea Gerson has been in my corner since the day we met. This note understates your role in my life, but thank you, Andrea, for much more than Mexican food, bingo, and doughnuts. Also, for bringing Noah along.

  Every member of my family has nudged this book along. Thanks to Susan and Matt Guasco, Thomas Lascher, Ted Lascher, and Liz Posner. Bear Wilner-Nugent and JJ Wilner have been my champions, as have Dedee Wilner-Nugent and the ever-delightful Wendolin and Rachel. Gretchen and Stew Brandt welcomed me during a research trip Shabbat dinner. Susan Cole and Mike Forster (as well as Nestle, Zoe, and Lily) hosted me as I did research at Stanford; they also provided many great ideas for my work. Roger Cole and Michelle Kurtis Cole gave me an art-filled welcome in San Diego. Bill Cole and Carol Lombardini have been enthusiastic supporters from start to finish. Dave Cole handled many logistical needs while also providing levity.

  But I wouldn’t be where I am without Wendy Lascher. She has always been the most stringent, and best, editor I could want. More importantly, her love and support have kept me writing when it hasn’t seemed possible. She is an inspiration both for her own work ethic and her encouragement. Likewise, I am so grateful to Peggy Cole and Jackee Marks for much more than keeping Mel’s memory alive. I look up so proudly to these last three amazing women. “Thank you” is simply not an adequate sentiment. Still, thank you.

  I’d also like to thank the following for their financial or other support: Michael Andersen, E. V. Armitage, James Armstrong, Stephen Baboi, Kathleen and Brian Back, Amy Baird, Wei Leng and Charles Baker, Roger Bartlett, Jim Baumer, Juliette Beale, Tim Berg and Pat Martin, Margaret Berger, Mellissa Betts and Jared Hedges, Katherine Blauvelt, Madeline Bodin, Ed Borasky, Denise and Tony Brogna, Valerie Brown, Dr. Moritz Butscheid, Harold and Carola Butscheid, Billy Calzada, Rachel Carbonell, Adam Carlson, Wendy Carrillo, Paul and Bessie Carrington, Helen Chan, Cheng Chang, Ethel Chang, Arthur Cheung, Kwok Ping Chiu, David Chott, Pat Chow, Katie Clunen, Sarah Corbitt, Stevi Costa and Marcus Gorman, Emily Craddick, Kyra Czar, Pete Danko, Mo Daviau, Ivor Davis, Rebecca Davis, Jen Dean, Vicki DeGoff and Richard Sherman, Melissa Delzio and Ryan Scheel, Rick and Kathy Derevan, Gary Dickson, Ed Elrod, Ernestine Elster, David Ettinger, Peter Fairley, Sarah Fama, Suzanne Fischer, Whitney Fox, Andrew Galasetti, Elizabeth Gelner, Erica Gies, Matthew Gitchell, Ross Golowicz, Robert Greene, Sharon Greenfield, Sarah Guare, Hannah Guzik, Karen Hamberg, Elizabeth Hassett, Christine Heinreichs, Noah Heller, John Hribar, Audra Ibarra, Barry Johnson, Erin Kelley, Rhea Yablon Kennedy, Carrie Kilman, Eli Kress, Dennis and Jo Ann LaRochelle, Gabriele and James Lashly, James Lauter, Dien Le, Jennifer Lauren Lee, Edan Lepucki, Becky Lerner, Anne Leung, Tip Lin, Dottie Loebl, Dave Long, Jenny Lower, Alvin Lui, Amy Jo Luna, Clifton Ma, Connie and Eric Ma, Sue and Terry Ma, Jason MacDonald, Evan Manvel and Lillie Jones Manvel, Lisa Marks, Colm McHugh, Kate McLean, Kevin McVerry, Claudia Melendez, Tina Mercado, Rose Messina, Laura Miller, Andy Moran, Karen Adams Moran, Aaron Mucciolo, Patrick Mulligan, Scott Nichols, Patrick Nork, Jennifer Novak, Gabe O’Brien, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Toni Palacios, Michael Parks, Jonathan Partridge, Bill Paterson, Jennifer Peebles, Erin Pidot, T. Peter Pierce, Hadley and Max Porter, Cassandra Profita, Larry Pryor, Suzie Racho, Michelle Rafter, Emily Render, Casey Rentz, Colin Reyman, Whit Richardson, Rebecca Robinson, Harriet Rochlin, Karen and Andrew Rodney, Louise Sanchez, Karen Schaefer, Barbara Schultz, Erik Schwartz, Brooke Shepherd, Courtney Sherwood, Catherine Smith, Jaclyn Smith, Ezra Spier, David Stern, Deborah Stern, Taffy Stern, Joe Streckert, Brandon Stroman, Kristen Sullivan, Meri McCoy-Thompson, Solvej Todd, Jennifer Troolines, Maren Tusing, Lee Van Der Voo, Al Vargas, Lou Vigorita, Joel Villaseñor, Emily Vizzo, Jeff and Shelia Waters, Sam Weisberg, Amy Westervelt, Susan White, Jennifer Willis, Edward Wolf, Elaine and Kelly Wong, Roy Xavier, Nancy Young, and Linda Zin.

  In closing, I would like to acknowledge the librarians and archivists I interacted with and the many more who prepared, cataloged, and indexed the sources I consulted. Your work is unsung. Specifically, thank you to the following institutions and their staffs: the Australian War Memorial; the Autry National Center; Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Filipinas Heritage Library; Harvard University Archives; Hoover Institution Library; Lewis and Clark Watzek Library; Library of Congress; Lingnan University Archives; Margaret Herrick Library; National Archives and Records Administration; Stanford University Library; Union Church of Manila Library; United States Air Force Historical Research Agency; University of California at Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library; University of California at San Diego Mandeville Library; and University of Oregon Knight Library, Special Collections and University Archives.

  A NOTE ON SOURCING

  Bibliographic listings and references have been condensed in the interest of space. A full bibliography of print, online and periodical works consulted as well as complete citations can be found at eveofahundredmidnights.com/sources.

  Correspondence, writings, photography, and other materials of Melville Jacoby, Elza Stern Meyberg, and Manfred Meyberg were provided by Peggy Stern Cole and the estate of Melville J. Jacoby.

  Acknowledgment is made to Shelley and Seth Mydans for permission to quote from Carl Mydans’s notebooks. Please see the notes for specific citations.

  The correspondence of Theodore H. Whit
e was quoted with permission from Heyden White Rostow and cited as such in the notes.

  See the notes for details about Annalee Jacoby Fadiman that were provided or clarified by Anne Fadiman.

  Archival Collections Consulted

  The following archival and library collections were consulted for this work:

  Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, MA

  Theodore Harold White Papers, HUM 1.10, 1922–1986

  Lewis and Clark University, Watzek Library, Special Collections, Portland, OR

  Hugh Deane Collection

  Margaret Herrick Library, Special Collections, Beverly Hills, CA

  Louella Parsons Scrapbooks and Photographs

  Sidney Skolsky Papers

  National Archives, College Park, MD

  “General Correspondence Files Relating to Civilian Employees, 1941–1955,” Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1917– [AGO], RG 407

  “Motion Picture Films from the ‘Combat Subjects’ Program,” Records of Army Air Forces, RG 18

  “Records Relating to War Support Services, 1941–1947,” Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1917– [AGO], RG 407

  “USN Deck Logs,” Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1798–2007, RG 24

  U.S. Department of State, General Records, Washington, D.C.

  “Death in Australia of Melville J. Jacoby, American Citizen,” 347.113 Briscoe Estate Benjamin—347.113 Perry, RG 59

  Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford, CA

  Jack Belden Papers

  Claire Lee Chennault Papers

  Lauchlin Bernard Currie Papers, 1941–1943

  Randall Chase Gould Papers

  Stanley Kuhl Hornbeck Papers

  Suzanne Norman Malloch Papers

  Roger Mansell Collection

  Charlotte Ellen Martin Papers, 1942–1982

  Laurence E. Salisbury Papers

  A. T. Steele Papers

  Karl H. Von Wiegand Papers

  Nym Wales Papers

  Charles Andrew Willoughby Papers

  Stanford University Libraries, Department of Special Collections, Stanford, CA

  Estate of Carl Mydans Photography Collection, MSS PHOTO 243

  University of California, Ethnic Studies Library, Berkeley, CA

  Charles Leong Papers, 1932–1972

  University of California, Special Collections and Archives, San Diego, CA

  Frank Tillman Durdin Papers, MSS 95

  University of Oregon, Knight Library, East Asian Collection, Eugene, OR

  Charles E. Stuart Papers

  Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Collection of American Literature, New Haven, CT

  Carl and Shelley Smith Mydans Papers

  U.S. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.

  Cordell Hull Papers

  Owen Lattimore Papers

  Clare Boothe Luce Papers

  Henry Robinson Luce Papers

  Francis B. Sayres Papers

  U.S. Library of Congress, Recorded Sound Reference Center, Washington, D.C.

  National Broadcasting Company History Files

  Miscellaneous

  Filipinas Heritage Library, Ayala Museum, Makati City, the Philippines

  Lingnan University Archives, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

  NOTES

  The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was made. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature on your e-book reader.

  Note: Statements by Melville Jacoby not otherwise cited are quoted from correspondence between Jacoby and Elza and Manfred Meyberg. See the extended bibliography at eveofahundredmidnights.com/sources for full citation of these and other quotes.

  Key to Abbreviations:

  AWJF – Annalee Whitmore Jacoby Fadiman

  CKY – Chan Ka Yik

  DH – David Hulburd

  ESM – Elza Stern Meyberg

  HRL – Henry Robinson Luce

  JH – John Hersey

  MJ – Melville J. Jacoby

  MM – Manfred Meyberg

  THW – Theodore H. White

  Prologue

  4 “There were no other ships”: MJ “In the Air Somewhere in Australia” (cable to DH), April 4, 1942, p. 4.

  5 Bombed and sabotaged vessels: Charles Dana Gibson and E. Kay Gibson, Over Seas: U.S. Army Maritime Operations, 1898 Through the Fall of the Philippines (Camden, ME: Ensign Press, 2002), p. 227.

  7 “The last two weeks in Manila”: AWJF letter to ESM and MM, April 10, 1942, Melbourne, Australia.

  Chapter 1: “Why Should I Contribute a Little More Trash?”

  14 Louis Loss Burns and Harry Revier: Mary Mallory, “A Little Barn Started It All,” Hollywood Heritage Inc. (Los Angeles) 32, no. 3 (Fall 2013).

  15 The epidemic . . . killed: Molly Billings, “The Influenza Pandemic of 1918,” June 1997 (modified 2005), virus.stanford.edu/uda/ (accessed August 26, 2014).

  15 “As young as [Mel] was”: ESM letter to JH, March 31, 1942, Bel Air, CA, p. 1.

  17 “I still remember”: Ibid., p. 4.

  18 traits that later prompted: Ta Kung Pao, translated in C. L. Hsia, Director, Chinese News Service, Inc., May 18, 1942 letter to ESM.

  18 “Mel was tall, dark”: Clark Lee, They Call It Pacific: An Eye-Witness Story of Our War Against Japan from Bataan to the Solomons, New York: Viking Press, 1943, p. 125.

  19 “because he always wanted”: Winton Ralph Close to ESM, Oct. 28, 1942, New Orleans, LA, p. 2.

  25 “I tried to take them”: George T. M. Ching, interview, Aug. 27, 2012.

  27 “For most of the American students”: Hugh Deane, “Memories of Lingnan, Notes on Chung Shan,” China and US. (U.S. China Peoples Friendship Association) 2, no. 5 (November–December 1973): 4.

  28 Though it began with 100,000: History.com, “This Day in History: October 20, 1935: Mao’s Long March Concludes,” A&E Networks, history.com/this-day-in-history/maos-long-march-concludes.

  28 After reaching Yenan: Rana Mitter, Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937–1945. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013, p. 70.

  28 devised a scheme: Ibid., pp. 71–73.

  33 “He talked about [Mel] often”: Emmy Ma, telephone conversation, Aug. 8, 2011.

  34 Mel later wrote in an essay: MJ, classroom assignment titled “4 Jacoby 25,” Stanford University, Fall, 1937.

  38 The question then became whether: Mitter, pp. 80–81.

  39 “If it were just [Peiping]”: Ibid., p. 81

  40 “To return to a war”: Ibid., p. 83

  40 Japan did make a few: Ibid., p. 89.

  Chapter 2: “The Itch Is Perpetual”

  43 Hull acknowledged the violence: Cordell Hull, telegram to Grace Caulfield, July 21, 1937, 11:19 a.m., Washington, D.C.

  43 Local leaders on each side”: Mitter, p. 85.

  48 “Propaganda is scattered”: MJ, “Inside China,” Stanford Daily 92, no. 7, (October 5, 1937), p. 4.

  49 Keller had been in Asia: “Helen Keller: Her First Visit to Japan in 1937,” Topics on Deaf Japan, September 26, 2013, deafjapan.blogspot.com/2013/09/helen-keller-her-first-visit-to-japan.html.

  49 “Discussing the Japanese people”: “Student Meets Helen Keller in Mid-Pacific,” Stanford Daily 92, no. 3 (September 29, 1937), p. 3.

  50 “The itch is perpetual”: MJ, “4 Jacoby 25,” p. 3.

  50 “The air raid in Canton”: CKY, letter to MJ, November 15, 1937, Canton (Guangzhou), China, p. 1.

  51 “You Americans”: Leîtao, Marie, letter to M. Jacoby, Oct. 4, 1937, Macau, p. 1.

  51 “Life as an exchange student”: MJ, “Inside China,” Stanford Daily 92, no. 4 (September 30, 1937), p. 4.

  52 “Personally, I hate”: MJ, “Assignment 24” (classroom assignment), October 1937, Stanford University, Stanford, CA., p. 2.

  52 But even his parents’ help: Ibid.

  52 But despite a full-page blitz: “Looking at Stanford Through the Eyes
of Foreign Students,” Stanford Daily, February 14, 1938, p. 2.

  53 Creative (or desperate) solutions: Ibid.

  54 “Mel, you are the best”: CKY, letter to MJ, March 16, 1938, Canton (Guangzhou), China, p. 1.

  54 they examined stories: MJ and Charles L. Leong, “An Analysis of Far Eastern News in Representative California Newspapers: 1934–38” (master’s thesis), Stanford University, Division of Journalism, Stanford, CA, September 1939.

  57 “Not one asked about the background”: Ibid, p. 281.

  58 Its highly touted features included: Golden Gate International Exhibition, Official Guidebook (San Francisco: Crocker Company, 1939).

  62 “But if you aren’t British”: MJ, “Shanghai Is” (unpublished column), December 1939, Shanghai, China.

  63 Between 20,000 and 300,000: Kate Merkel-Hess and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, “Nanjing by the Numbers,” Foreign Policy, February 9, 2010, foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/09/nanjing_by_the_numbers (accessed May 14, 2013).

  63 Wang’s underlings set up: John B. Powell, My Twenty-Five Years in China (New York: MacMillan Company, 1945), p. 335.

  64 “Things went from bad to worse”: Paul French, Through the Looking Glass: China’s Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009), Kindle Ebook location 4210.

  65 Aside from Abend and Gould: Stephen R. MacKinnon and Oris Friesen, China Reporting: An Oral History of American Journalism in the 1930s and 1940s (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), p. 25.

  66 Mel did publish: MJ (writing as “Mel Jack”), “Jews in Exile,” Los Angeles Times, January 14, 1940, p. 17.

  Chapter 3: The Voice of China

  71 Leaf, who was also: Earl H. Leaf, “Behind Chinese Lines,” in Eye Witness by members of the Overseas Press Club of America, ed. Robert Spiers Benjamin (New York: Alliance Book Corp., 1940), p. 132.