Honorable Survivor weaves John S. Service’s extraordinary story into the fabric of a watershed moment in our history when World War II was ending, the Cold War was dawning, and the McCarthy era witch-hunters were stirring.
A true story of intrigue, adventure, persecution, and redemption–and the love of a loyal American wife and a Chinese lover, this biography chronicles the experiences of John S. Service. Emmy award-winning journalist Lynne Joiner tells the tale of Service, an idealistic U.S. Foreign Service officer in wartime China who had the misfortune of often being right although U.S. policymakers refused to heed his prescient reporting.
He predicted Mao Tse-tung’s successful revolution long before anyone else even knew the Chinese Communists were a potent force, and, subsequently, he became Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s first victim. The author describes how Service was fired for“doubtful” loyalty--but won his job back in the U.S. Supreme Court, only to have his career “neutralized” by the FBI, anti-Communist politicians, the China lobby, and Chiang Kai-shek’s secret police.
Although newly released Soviet and U.S. documents demonstrate that some of his wartime associates were in fact identified as Communist spies or fellow travellers, Joiner shows that Service was an honourable survivor who was innocent of McCarthy's charges.
About the Author
Lynne Joiner is an award-winning broadcast journalist, news anchor, and documentary filmmaker. Her work has included assignments for CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Newsweek, and L.A. Times Magazine.