MAO ZEDONG | Calligraphic autograph letter signed, to Major W.A. Dexheimer. thanking him for his hospitality and Christmas gifts

Property from the Descendants of Colonel Wilbur A. Dexheimer

MAO ZEDONG

Calligraphic autograph letter signed, to Major W.A. Dexheimer, thanking him for his hospitality and Christmas gifts

One page (10 3/8 x 8 in.; 262 x 201 mm), written in black ink with a brush pen, together with autograph envelope and typed English translation, Yenan, 25 December 1944; folds.

The earliest autograph letter signed by Mao to be sold on the international market, written in the last year of World War II. a fine example of Mao's iconic calligraphic style

“The Dixie Mission had closer relations with senior Chinese military officers than any Americans have had with the Chinese Communists command before or since.” Richard Bernstein

On July 22, 1944, a group of Americans known formally as the United States Army Observation Group, or informally known as the Dixie Mission, landed in Yan’an, a small city in Northern China. Their mission was to determine from several angles the “strength, composition, disposition, equipment, training, and combat efficiency of the Communist forces” (Carter 29), and judge if the U.S. would benefit from supporting the party (Carter, Carolle J. Mission to Yenan...The University Press of Kentucky, 1997). The Americans were to also gain any additional intelligence they could on the Japanese and Russians. To the Chinese Communists, this was a new starting point in diplomatic relations, and Mao noted that the arrival of the Mission was the most exciting event since the start of the war against Japan. From his perspective, this was an opportunity to gain major military and political support against not only the Japanese, but also the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party of China. Thus began an almost three year courtship between America and the Communist Party of China.

While the Dixie Mission was to be an observation only mission, Mao hoped it was just an initial step in furthering US involvement. Upon their arrival, Mao revised an article title in the party’s newspaper, Liberation Daily, to include the phrase “our friends” in reference to the observers (Carter 35). In reality, this became not just idle talk. In a 1977 interview John Service, head of US operations in China, noted that the atmosphere in the camp as one “of acceptance, of hospitality, of not being guarded, of not holding people off. Their liaison officers came and sat and joined our mess. People would drop in to see you. It was all very informal, as I say, like a sort of a Christian summer conference atmosphere. People were living fairly close together.” Service also recounts an eight-hour interview and subsequent dinner with Mao and his wife, as well as casual chats with Zhu De. They were not yet larger than life political leaders, but rather the leaders of guerrilla force still fighting for legitimacy.

On base, the factions exchanged cordial invitations for dinner parties and movie nights. The Chinese Communists operated a drama school near Yan’an, and often invited the Dixie men to watch plays. Dances were another common occurrence, and each side showed off their country’s traditions as well as the latest styles, the Conga being a favorite of the Americans. As noted by Carter, “General Chu Teh rarely missed a dance, and Mao Tse-tung and other Communist leaders always attended.”

Along with general social gatherings, the Communists scrupulously observed the days that they knew the Americans regarded as important. This included Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and most notably, Christmas. The holiday always elicited formal good wishes from the Chinese officials, and, for at least 1944 and 1945, the Dixie mission hosted a Christmas event attended by the Chinese Communist officials. For its first Christmas overseas, the Dixie Mission threw a party, likely hosted by Major Wilbur Dexheimer as the highest ranking official on base at the time, and invited the Chinese Communists and their associates to the celebration. Written six months into the Americans stay in Yen’an, when no loyalties had yet been decided by the Americans, Mao writes to his host as both politician and friend. In a flattering and formal tone, Mao sends his thanks to Major Dexheimer for his hospitality and several gifts. While several members of the mission spoke Chinese, Dexheimer was not one of them, and Mao also included a typed English translation for his benefit:

“...Today again I received your kind letter with another very elegant present for which please accept my sincere appreciation, which accompanies this letter. For you my best wishes for continued good health.”

Born in Denver, Colorado in August of 1901, Wilbur Dexheimer went on to attend Colorado State University, where he graduated with a degree in civil engineering. He began his career in 1928 in the Bureau of Reclamation, and was heavily involved in the Hoover Dam Project. Wilbur Dexheimer then served four years in the US Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, during which he was stationed in Yen’an as part of the Dixie Mission. Dexheimer acted as a consulting engineer for an American company in China for a brief time after the war. After which, he returned to the Bureau. By this time Colonel Dexheimer, he was named Head of the Bureau of Reclamation by President Eisenhower in 1953, where he would remain until his retirement in 1959.

The Chinese Communists always treated the Americans graciously, and the reports from Dixie spoke positively of the efficiency, strength, and authenticity of the Chinese Communists. However, over time it became clear the United States was not going to recognize the Party in any official capacity and back them in post-war negotiations.

Mao was celebrated as a master calligrapher in his lifetime, and his writing was displayed publicly on buildings across Beijing, including the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Revolution. He brought about new forms in Chinese calligraphy called "Mao-style" or Maoti, which has gained increasing popularity since his death. In manuscripts such as this letter, Mao followed the new fashion of writing from left to right, rather than from top to bottom, giving greater emphasis to the horizontal rather than vertical dimensions of characters.

Please see below for a transcription of the text.

戴斯漢姆少校：

昨天恭逢聖誕佳節，叩承盛情招待，並蒙厚賜，己深感謝！今日又接表示，以珍物見贈，感念更深。謹此奉覆。敬祝

健康！

毛澤東上

一九四四年

十二月廿五日