Herbert Yardley, Henry Luce, Minnie Vautrin, and Claire Chennault represented America’s mission in China as Japan began nine years of unrelenting aggression against the Middle Kingdom. It was a place for adventurers, entrepreneurs, true believers, and people with something to prove. But China wanted more. Ever since the Opium War, China had sought the full backing of the United States government against its foes. In its life-and-death struggle with Japan, it would be compelled to seek it again.
