Did Harry Dexter White obstruct a proposed $200 million loan to Nationalist China in 1943 as a U.S. Treasury department official?
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It seems the $200,000,000 in question was not a loan in and of itself, but a portion of a larger $500,000,000 loan which had been arranged in 1942. The $200,000,000 was part of a request by the Chinese to receive part of this line of credit as shipments of gold. This is after the first $240 million portion of the fund had already been received, and utilized in a fashion which had done little to ameliorate the rampant ongoing inflation.
The issue has been covered in quite a few recent books, many later works focusing on the 'Soviet spy' aspect. There is also a lot of information published by the US government agencies actually involved in the processes here. You can read dozens (hundreds?) of memos, meeting minutes, and telegrams discussing this loan between numerous members of the Treasury department, State department, and foreign officials. These original documents can be read in book form (first link), and viewed online at the US Department of States' Office of the Historian(second link) in a searchable digital format.
- Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1942, China (online)
- Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, China (online)
Later sources written after the allegations of soviet espionage:
- Morgenthau Diary (China) 1956 By Henry Morgenthau
- Scope of Soviet Activity in the United States: Hearing Before the ... By United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1957
Reading through these sources is seems apparent that the involved members of the Treasury department did not trust that the $200 million in gold requested would be used any better than the first $240 million in funds were. They felt their financial expertise was superior to the political decisions being made (in both locations), and therefore devised a 'policy' of shipping the requested gold in limited amounts, which they determined could be practically consumed by the Chinese government, and retaining the rest for other uses later if the gold sales did not prove fruitful in controlling the inflation problems.
The question asks about missing oversite over the activities of Harry White, but this was Treasury department policy, acknowledged by a group of individuals, and included the head of the treasury department Henry Morgenthau. There was no special subterfuge apparent performed by Harry White, unless behind the published scene he was the dominant personality in the group and swayed the opinions of the others. Right or wrong this appears to be bureaucracy in action, with individuals in control implementing a policy they apparently judged to be the best course of action at the time.
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