Terry Lautz on John Birch, China, and the Cold War

Terry Lautz, Syracuse University 

John Birch: A Life (Oxford, 2016) is the story of a young American who was a missionary and military intelligence officer in China during the Second World War. He was shot and killed by Communist Chinese soldiers, and years later became the namesake of the controversial right-wing John Birch Society. Terry Lautz argues that the perceived martyrdom of Birch is a misguided view, appropriated for Cold War political purposes. 

Dr. Lautz is Interim Director of the Moynihan Institute’s East Asia Program at SU. He is a trustee and chair of the Harvard-Yenching Institute and a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He graduated from Harvard College and holds a PhD from Stanford University. His new book has been reviewed in the New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal.

Sponsored by the East Asia Program at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs and the Department of History