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Chinese-born Anna Chennault, 94, was behind-the-scenes political force
Honolulu Star Advertiser ^ | 4/4/18 | NYT

Posted on 04/04/2018 7:36:05 AM PDT by mac_truck

Anna Chennault, for many years one of the most visible private citizens in Washington as a Republican fundraiser, writer and Chinese-born, anti-communist lobbyist who dabbled in foreign intrigue after the death of her husband, the renowned leader of the Flying Tigers in China and Burma in World War II, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 94.

Her death, in her apartment at the Watergate complex, was announced today. The cause was complications of a stroke she suffered in December, her daughter Cynthia Chennault said.

In her memoir photographs, wearing a high-necked white ao dai, Chennault appears with her husband, Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault; with Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford; with J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI; with Gen. William C. Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and with Nguyen Cao Ky, the South Vietnamese vice president who fled to the United States with the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Except for her husband’s picture, taken a year before he died in 1958, it is a gallery of Chennault’s Washington regalia, assembled over many years as an airline executive, hostess, Republican stalwart, advocate for the Chinese Nationalists and South Vietnam, and staunch opponent of the Communist regime that seized power in China in 1949.

She was also a vice president of the Flying Tiger Line, her husband’s postwar cargo operation; a writer of novels, poetry and nonfiction books; a Voice of America broadcaster; and the center of a social whirl at her Watergate penthouse that drew in Cabinet members, congressmen, diplomats, foreign dignitaries and journalists.

(Excerpt) Read more at staradvertiser.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: anticommunist; chennault; cia; flyingtigers; nixon; taiwan; vietnam
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1 posted on 04/04/2018 7:36:05 AM PDT by mac_truck
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To: mac_truck
Anna Chennault with her husband (left) in the 1950s.


2 posted on 04/04/2018 7:37:54 AM PDT by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: mac_truck

A gracious lady and I daresay top quality eye candy.


3 posted on 04/04/2018 7:42:13 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (ObaMao: Fake America, Fake Messiah, Fake Black man. How many fakes can you fit into one Zer0?)
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To: mac_truck

The general left his first wife, the former Nell Thompson, by whom he had perhaps a half dozen children, to marry Anna, who then had two daughters.


4 posted on 04/04/2018 7:42:20 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: mac_truck

Wow, another name from my youth ... had no idea she was still alive. RIP ...


5 posted on 04/04/2018 7:42:41 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: mac_truck

RIP Anna.


6 posted on 04/04/2018 7:43:55 AM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: mac_truck

Last Sunday I posted the latest episode of my podcast. The subject was World War II in Burma, in 1941 and 1942. Of course I mentioned the part the Flying Tigers played in that conflict.

http://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia


7 posted on 04/04/2018 7:49:52 AM PDT by Berosus (I wish I had as much faith in God as liberals have in government.)
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To: Vigilanteman

“A gracious lady and I daresay top quality eye candy.”

Please.....dare.
And a staunch anti-communist on top of that.
Rest In Peace Anna Chenault.


8 posted on 04/04/2018 7:50:04 AM PDT by oldvirginian ("The people built this country. And it is the people who are making America great again.” D TRUMP)
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To: mac_truck

An amazing life well lived!


9 posted on 04/04/2018 7:54:08 AM PDT by dennisw (The strong take from the weak, but the smart take from the strong)
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To: Berosus

The Flying Tigers were mercenaries-——and help make the Soong family even richer.

.


10 posted on 04/04/2018 7:54:53 AM PDT by Mears
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To: oldvirginian

My father was with the 14th Air Service Group in the CBI, an all Chinese American USAAF unit. Flying Tiger ping.


11 posted on 04/04/2018 7:58:44 AM PDT by wetgundog (Mainstream Media, Lying Liars Lying.)
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To: mac_truck

Around 1995 I gout to meet General Robert L. Scot, author of “God Is My Co-Pilot”.

It was at a meeting of a South Georgia historical society. He was there speaking and selling books with all the profits to go to the Warner Robbins AFB museum.

He had to have been pushing 90 but was still sharp and very charismatic. He drove down from Macon with his Daughter. I noticed that after the meeting, he got into his Cadillac and drove back with his Daughter as passenger. This was at night too.

One thing I remember is he was not allowed to bomb certain bridges near the end of WWII because Chairman Mao had vetoed it.


12 posted on 04/04/2018 7:58:54 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: wetgundog

The Flying Tigers were mercenaries-——and help make the Soong family even richer

Yeah, but they shot down a lot of sons of Nippon, is what they were being paid for.


13 posted on 04/04/2018 8:01:12 AM PDT by wetgundog (Mainstream Media, Lying Liars Lying.)
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To: mac_truck
It was Chennault who figured out how to defeat the dreaded Mitsubishi A6M Type 0 fighter: just out-dive them. And the P-40 pilots with the Flying Tigers used it with great effect.
14 posted on 04/04/2018 8:01:26 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
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To: mac_truck
A cold war lioness who knew what the west was up against and never missed an opportunity to speak out against communism As an added bonus, she always scored very high on the hotness scale.

RIP.

15 posted on 04/04/2018 8:02:53 AM PDT by fso301
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To: Mears

boy you sure know your history.


16 posted on 04/04/2018 8:04:55 AM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: mac_truck

RIP


17 posted on 04/04/2018 8:05:15 AM PDT by laplata (Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: RayChuang88

I was reading an article about the P-40. It was apparently a better fighter than has been generally thought.

For one thing, it had a faster roll rating than the zero. I think I know what that means but not sure.


18 posted on 04/04/2018 8:07:42 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: mac_truck
In her memoir photographs, wearing a high-necked white ao dai

Surprised, she wore Vietnamese attire?

19 posted on 04/04/2018 8:19:37 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (This Space for Rent)
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To: Berosus

The Flying Tigers by Russell Whelan and published in 1942 is still a good read. All members of the American Volunteer Group are listed.


20 posted on 04/04/2018 8:33:31 AM PDT by Bookshelf
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