ABSTRACT
Before the fall of Shanghai, Powell supported the actions of United States Consular officials, who remained in cities taken by the PLA, as a logical first step toward establishing diplomatic relations with the new regime. He urged the U.S. government to sever its relations with the dying Nationalist cause, a condition which Communist authorities insisted upon for the establishment of normal relations. He was aware that John Leighton Stuart was in contact with the new Chinese authorities. Diplomatic relations, Powell believed, would facilitate commerce and trade, and help American businessmen to protect their interests from possible British encroachment.1 He felt America had much to offer China as it began to reconstruct, and believed the new government would want to encourage the revival of trade in Shanghai.
