When China’s Madame Chiang Kai-shek visited Washington in February 1943, Mrs. Roosevelt, who met her first, found her sweet, gentle, delicate, and full of charm, and in talking about her, made FDR quite eager to meet China’s First Lady. Madame Chiang spent several days at the White House and, to Mrs. Roosevelt’s chagrin, turned out to be tough and demanding.
One evening FDR got to talking about the trouble he was having with labor leader John L. Lewis and suddenly turned to Madame Chiang and asked: “What would you do in China with a labor leader like John Lewis?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Madame Chiang lifted her beautiful little hand and slid it quietly across her throat.
”Well,” said FDR to his wife later, “how about your gentle and sweet character?”
Source:
Boller, Paul F. "Eleanor Roosevelt." Presidential Wives. New York: Oxford UP, 1988. 309. Print.
Original Source Listed:
This I Remember, 283-84.
Further Reading:
宋美齡 (Soong Mei-ling or Soong May-ling) / Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang
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