Patrick J. Hurley

Patrick J. Hurley was the American ambassador to China whose abrupt resignation in November created an immediate crisis for Harry S. Truman. Hurley’s reversal—from telling the President that all was under control to publicly accusing the State Department of siding with the Chinese Communists—left Truman unable, even years later, to explain what had prompted it.

Role and Sudden Resignation

Hurley returned to Washington for consultation and told Truman that the situation in China was under control and that he would soon return there. Barely an hour later, he announced his resignation in a speech at the Press Club, attributing it to the State Department’s support for the Chinese Communists. The striking contrast between his private reassurance and public accusation made the resignation more than a change in personnel: it exposed a sharp dispute over the direction of American policy in China.

Truman’s Reaction

Truman was caught off guard by the announcement. In a later account, he called Hurley’s about-face utterly inexplicable; at the time, he reacted with anger, carrying a yellow news copy from the White House ticker into a Cabinet meeting and rebuking Hurley for what he had done. The episode left the President confronting a public rupture whose cause, as he understood it, remained obscure.

The Immediate Aftermath

Secretary of Agriculture Clinton Anderson proposed that Truman appoint General Marshall as a new special ambassador to China, shifting attention from Hurley’s resignation. Truman accepted the suggestion and telephoned Marshall at home in Leesburg, Virginia, asking him to go to China. Marshall agreed, though he had been retired for only six days and ended the call abruptly so he could explain the decision to his wife himself. Hurley’s exit thus quickly led to a new diplomatic assignment, while the narrative preserves the unexplained suddenness of his departure as its defining feature.