Depictions of historical events go beyond the mere purpose of providing information of a

certain phenomenon. They also reflect the viewpoints of an author: what they are feeling and
what they deem to be significant in portraying a specific historical event. Michael Hunt, a
prolific author and American historian, develops his historical narratives by utilizing the socalled Great Men of history. Hunt believes that an ethnic group can be generalized and
connected to one main, authoritative figure; this is Hunts primary method of telling his historical
narratives. By contrast, The New York Times Articles that were analyzed take a different route.
Instead of focusing on different leaders, the authors of the articles decide to simply refer to the
ethnic group itself. Therefore, each respective author is able to effectively portray each historical
occurrence but also depict certain differences utilizing different methods of portrayal.
The Chinese Communist Partys successful revolution is a topic seen as a notable topic
for discussion for the New York Times. During a time when Communism and paranoia of its
spreading was at an all time high, the authors of the New York Times were aiming to deliver an
immediate narrative to the American Public. The article claims The Communists, he continued,
are using German 88mm. guns to fire shells into the More than ten Communist divisions are
reported concentrated around Changchun.1 The article only refers to the party as simply The
Communists. There is no mention of any sort of authority: not even a field general or a member
of the party elite. The article simply depicts each action occurred as an action that is taken by the
party as a whole. It refers to it simply as one general entity: rather than focusing the entity on one
person. Additionally, the article claims that the troops morale there is relatively good under the

1 By HENRY R LIEBERMAN Special to THE NEW,YORK TIMES. 1948. "Chinese

Reds are Close to City and Harder-Hitting Units are Farther South -- Food Still
Arrives by Air." New York Times (1923-Current File), Jul 04, 8.

circumstances.2 Instead of quoting a generals comments or an actual soldiers take on the

situation, the author overlooks the individual and sticks with the party as a whole.
Opposed to the party favoring beliefs of the New York Times, Michael Hunt takes a different
approach when discussing the Chinese Communist Revolution in China. In Hunts Chinese
historical narratives, Mao Zedong is the foundation of Hunts story telling. Hunt completely
correlates his depiction of the Communist Revolution with Mao Zedongs personal life along
with his rise to power. Furthermore, Hunt affirms that Maos personal upbringings and
challenges all contribute to the success of the Chinese Communist Party. He states that Mao
Zedongs central place in this revolution and offer another reminder of the important impact
strong personalities can have in human affairs.3 Hunt goes onto discuss in greater detail of how
Maos youth had a significant impact on his development and his personal beliefs. He elaborates
on how Mao was outraged by nearly a century of foreign aggression, and he was desperate to
save China from the humiliations of foreigners.4 Consequently, Mao Zedongs animosity
towards foreigners developed early and played a critical role in his endeavors towards Chinese
Independence. Hunt also proposes that Mao Zedong left a noteworthy legacy to his country and
the Chinese Communist Party: He was the father of one revolution, and is successors would
have to carry out a second, market-oriented revolution in that the Mao era had created.5
Maos legacy is obvious as his heirs would have to assume the responsibility of leading China
out of the difficult economic and political situations that Mao had unfortunately lead them to.

2 By HENRY R LIEBERMAN Special to THE NEW, YORK TIMES. 1948. "Chinese Reds are
Close to City and Harder-Hitting Units are Farther South -- Food Still Arrives by Air." New York
Times (1923-Current File), Jul 04, 8.
3 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.113-114
4 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.114
5 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.114

The Chinese are not the only ones who had a notable revolution that news articles at the time
took attention to. Vietnam possesses a revolution story that closely resembles that of China but
was deeply rooted in French resentment since the early nineteenth century when France
successfully took over Vietnam. Due to anti-colonial resistance from Vietnam towards the
French, the two eventually square off in numerous battles in order to establish order in the
country: one side hoping for freedom from foreigners and the other side hoping for colonial
gains. The French, using 12,000 infantry, air and have launched a heavy attack twenty miles
northeast of Saigon6 The author conveys this message as a highly general and almost vague
relay of information, which reflects his overall purpose of creating a simple message for the
American Public.
Hunt connects the vast entity that is the Vietnamese revolution from the French with one man,
Ho Chi Minh. Similar to the way he portrayed Mao Zedong and his impact on the Communist
revolution in China, Hunt goes about the Vietnamese Revolution in the same manner. He states
that Minh was a charismatic leader who would set this conquered and divided land on the road
to independence and unity.7 Furthermore, Hunt later on specifically states that Hos forces
gradually wore the French down despite rising levels of U.S. assistance to the colonial forces.8
This absolutely bolsters Hunts intention of portraying the Great Men of history- in this case
being Ho Chi Minh. Hunt constantly references Minh and his absolutely monumental
contributions to the Vietnamese endeavors for independence from the French. He initially
commends Minhs leadership skills and ability to unite the Vietnamese people under a common
patriotic tradition of resistance to foreign intervention.9
6 "Action Reported in Indo-China." New York Times (1923-Current File), Feb
16, 1948.
7 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.123
8 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.125
9 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.126

The final piece of historical evidence that can be taken into account is India and the immediate
struggles it faced even after gaining its independence. India had been under British control since
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries but eventually strived for independence under the
leadership of a man named Mohandas Gandhi. As previously mentioned- not to mention
completely expected-The New York Times choose to ignore specific references of individual
men and their personal accomplishments and contributions. One specific article mentioned that
India celebrates its first anniversary of her independence on August 15th but is still finding its
way to its ultimate form politically and socially.10 The article deliberately states India as a
country in order to express it as one general entity as opposed to connecting said entity to
something else.
In his own telling of Indias post-independence period, Hunt centers the countrys immediate
challenges on Mohandas Gandhi. But independence also brought Gandhi immediate
disappointment.11 Although independence meant freedom from British control, the Indian
National Congress and the Muslim League experienced several splits in leadership that lead to a
scattering of Muslim communities and violence amongst different communities. Consequently,
Gandhis ultimate goal of a united, cohesive India suddenly became unobtainable.12 Hunt also
states that India was eventually forced to accept partition as the only true solution for the severe
political and social problems at hand. Partition seemed the only solution and to the creation
of a separate sovereign Muslim state.
The differences in presentation of the two sources are highly notable and captivating. Despite
presenting identical material, the contrast in technique used is so evident. On one hand, there is
10 By ROBERT TRUMBULLSpecial to THE NEW,YORK TIMES. 1948. "INDIA,
AGE ONE, FACING BIG INTERNAL PROBLEMS." New York Times (1923-Current
File), Aug 08, 1.
11 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.133
12 Hunt, The World Transformed, p.133

Michael Hunt who is a highly knowledgeable historian after one motive: to present significant
historical events in the form of compelling narratives. On the other, there are numerous authors
from the New York Times. These authors at the time were deliberately intending to provide
straightforward presentations of these events to the American Public. Hunt desires and-to some
degree- even requires excitement in his narratives; he is an author after all. Therefore, this
justifies as to why he would take the approach of solidifying his stories around significant men
noted in history. Concentrating these stories around an important, famous person makes the
stories that much more interesting and appealing to a reader. The New York Times however
would not be interested in providing highly entertaining stories designed to compel a reader by
mere excitement. The authors of these articles were writing in a time where fear and paranoia of
communism was at an all time high. Americans living in 1948 and 1956 would not have cared
for entertainment in these articles; they would have wanted detailed yet easily readable analysis
on significant events pertaining to communism. Therefore, it only seems natural that the authors
of these articles would have chosen to ignore great men such as Mao Zedong or Gandhi.
The large transformations that Asian lands experienced following the conclusion of
World War II is truly captivating: filled with exciting tales of different groups of people striving
for independence. However, the different ways used by authors to portray these events are even
more captivating; the creative and deliberate choices of how to tell a story resonates much more
than the story itself.