Saving Face
26
But perhaps the strongest example of a Henry Luce agenda emerging on the front
covers exists in the December 11, 1933, February 24, 1936, and November 9, 1936
issues. These three issues show Chiang as the strong, steady military leader. The tone of
these front covers is one of a leader in charge, confident, and in control of events around
him. Of course, the reality was much more complex than that with an unsettled Chinese
populace, fractious warlords, rival Communists, and rapacious Japanese swirling around
the general and his forces. Perhaps Luce was looking to reinforce to America that
someone, some entity was indeed in control of this emerging chaotic situation.
In addition, on two occasions, Chiang is shown with the bright star of the China
flag positioned prominently in the background. These two issues, dated September 3,
1945 and December 6, 1948, were published when the fate of Nationalist China was
either precariously in the balance vis-à-vis the Communists, as in September 1945, or in
serious trouble as in 1948. The prominently positioned flag and the close-up rendering of
Chiang tend to engender a strong association between the two that in spite of the rapid
gains of Mao’s Communists, for Time, Chiang and his Nationalists are the real China. In
other words, for the benefit of the American audience, Chiang, not Mao, is China.
Thus, the evidence of the timing of the cover features in contrast to actual events,
plus the substance and construction of the covers indicates a pro-Chiang agenda
embedded in the covers ob behalf of Luce and his Time magazine.
Of course, further study of how Chiang was positioned on competitive news
magazine covers may reveal additional perspective on Luce and the Time magazine
covers. Plus, an analysis of article content versus other magazines’ content would be
equally as enlightening.
Convention