"They're thieves, every damn one of them," Truman said later, referring to Nationalist leaders. "They stole $750 million out of the billions that we sent to Chiang. They stole it, and it's invested in real estate down in São Paolo and some right here in New York." SETH FAISON, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, a Power in Husband’s China and Abroad, Dies at 105, New York Times, Oct. 25. 2003
上面是維基所引的資料來源。必須指出的,在維基英文版的杜魯門條列中,無此引句。
而 Faison的引文來自米勒 信口開河(Plain Speaking)一書。只是和原文有些出入。
“ They’re all thieves, every damn of them”. P276.
“I discovered after some time that Chiang Kai-shek and the Madame and their families, the Soong family and the Kungs, were all thieves, every last one of them, the Madame and him included. And they stole $750 million out of the $35 billion that we sent to Chiang.” P277, Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S Truman . 2004.
看官可別被口述自傳四個字就給呼攏了。1961- 1962米勒受雇籌畫一部有關杜魯門的電視影集,從而累積了相當時數的訪談紀錄。然而三大電視網無一青睞。多年後米勒決定利用這些資料寫本書。他在八個書商都拒絕之後,終於出版了 Plain Speaking。書中他和杜魯門一搭一唱,口無遮攔,粗口連連;再加爆料內幕,牽扯到麥克阿瑟、艾森亳、馬歇爾、胡佛、尼克森、甘迺迪…一時大賣! 估計超過一百五十萬本以上! 我們且看杜魯門如何回憶他和麥克阿瑟在 wake Island meeting一幕:
MacArthur was always playacting.... He was wearing those damn sunglasses of his and a shirt that was unbuttoned and a cap that had a lot of hardware. I never did understand, an old man like that [MacArthur was 70] and a five-star general to boot, and he went around dressed up like a nineteen-year-old second lieutenant. But I decided to overlook his getup, and we shook and we arranged a meeting. I got there on time, but he was forty-five minutes late, and this meeting - - it was just between the two of us you understand....
When he walked in, I took one look at him at I said, "Now you look here. I've come halfway around the world to meet you, but don't worry about that. I just want you to know I don't give a good goddamn what you do or think about Harry Truman, but don't you ever again keep your Commander in Chief waiting. Is that clear?"
His face got as red as a beet, but he said, he indicated that he understood what I was talking about, and we went on there.... He was just like a little puppy at that meeting. I don't know which was worse, the way he acted in public or the way he kissed my ass at that meeting.
事實是麥帥早一日到 Wake Island,杜魯門黃昏時到達,麥帥在機坪迎接,那來太陽眼鏡。麥帥著軍常服,( 日本受降式上麥帥亦未著禮服) 五星上將的制式軍帽。最扯的是根本沒有過只有兩人的會議,何來遲到?!
當有人問到這和歷史完全走樣的一段,(請看杜魯門自己的備忘錄 Memorandum Regarding October 15 Meeting with MacArthur,
Harry S. Truman
Wake Island
November 25, 1950
We arrived at dawn. Gen. MacArthur was at the Airport with his shirt unbuttoned, wearing a greasy ham and eggs cap that evidently had been in use for twenty years.
He greeted the President cordially and after the photographers had finished their usual picture orgy the President and the General boarded a two door sedan and drove to the quarters of the Airline manager on the Island.
For more than an hour they discussed the Japanese and Korean situation.
The General assured the President that the victory was won in Korea, that Japan was ready for a peace treaty and that the Chinese Communists would not attack.
A general discussion was carried on about Formosa. The General brought up his statement to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which had been ordered withdrawn by the President. The General said that he was sorry for any embarrassment he’d caused, that he was not in politics at the time and that the politicians had made a “chump” (his word) of him in 1948 and that it would not happen again. He assured the President that he had no political ambitions.
He again said the Chinese Commies would not attack, that we had won the war and that we could send a Division to Europe from Korea in January 1951.
"Truman told it the way he remembered it. So as I think Mr. Truman would have said, the hell with the purists. There are already hundreds of books and there will be hundreds more to clear up those small details that Mr. Truman and his friends may have misremembered...."
杜魯門依記憶告訴我,我想他會說: 去他的真(偽)! … 反正杜(和他朋友)的誤憶自有自清之日。
這位米勒兄一推二百五,真無賴本色,有他的!
***
杜魯門大罵老蔣同載於前引Wake Island meeting 於 Firing the General 一章,有心的讀者可以看到米勒先用被蔣撤換的史迪威助陣,繼而藉美軍和英格蘭對蔣謔稱Chancre Jack, Cash my Check, 來輕侮蔣(其實那是赫爾利和史迪威對蔣的nickname; 對毛的則分別是 Moose Dung 和 Mouse Tongue),杜魯門接口稱是,然後就是對蔣的指控。這種套招唱和的公式,根本就是連續劇的架構。
退一步說,就算杜真說過,他說了就算數? 美國戰時對盟國的援助基本上不離 land-lease《租借法案》其形式以軍械軍需物資和運輸服務為主(飛越鴕峰是不便宜的),這三十五(八) 億怎麼來的? 阿澈森(Acheson) 在中美關係白皮書中稱戰勝後對華援助為廿億,根據阿特利(Freda Utley) 在 The China Story一書中的分析,實質到位的僅有兩億多 The Facts About "Aid to China" !