Eve of a Hundred Midnights by Bill Lascher

living? If not, where can they go?”
    Shortly after arriving, through Woo and his other contacts, Mel was referred to one of the most influential Missouri “Mafiosos” then working in China: Hollington Tong (Dong Xianguang). As vice minister of the publicity bureau, “Holly,” as friends called him, was also an influential member of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government. Mel, who’d admired a speech Holly gave on the Central Broadcasting Service (CBS) right after the Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937, soon learned that Holly was the architect of much of free China’s propaganda. His office wrote the government-sponsored news dispatches that were sent to wire services and newsrooms; after a government shake-up, it was also about to set up shortwave broadcasts from XGOY, the government-run radio station known as “the Voice of China.”
    Woo told Mel that the government was looking for someone to organize the operation at XGOY and write publicity as well. The job would put Mel in contact with some of themost important people in China and let him see the day-today workings of the Chinese government from a perspective available only to a few. The job, which was Mel’s if he wanted it, would give him a reason to leave Shanghai and move to Chungking, where the action was and where he could embed himself among a small but dedicated community of reporters.
    â€œThat’s just the place I’ve been aiming at so all would be quite well should it turn out right,” Mel said.
    However, many of the journalists Mel had befriended in Shanghai warned him not to take the job. They thought the propaganda elements of it would kill Mel’s dream of working for newspapers in the future. Others disagreed that it was a bad idea. Even though the position involved writing propaganda and paid poorly, the capital’s allure—and the allure of being in free China—was difficult to resist. Besides, Mel hoped, a propaganda job didn’t have to be permanent. Moreover, if he took the job, he’d end up in daily contact with the Kuomintang’s inner circle and other high-profile sources. As Mel weighed the access and excitement of working in Chungking against the possibility of being permanently marked as a propagandist, the decision was made easier by the exhausting day-to-day life of Shanghai.
    By Thanksgiving, when Gould and his third wife had Mel over for Thanksgiving dinner, he realized that he’d befriended more or less every American journalist in Shanghai. Regardless of what decision Mel made, they were all confident in his future.
    â€œAll seem quite anxious and convinced that I’ll land something soon,” he said. All of them, he added, had advice about each of his potential jobs.
    â€œI’m darn choosey,” he admitted. His other options included Woo’s newspaper (Mel gave him some informal advice on how to improve it), an offer from Reuters that Mel thought wouldalso be propaganda-heavy, just in favor of the British, and waiting to see whether something concrete turned up with the United Press. He’d become familiar with the syndicate’s Far East manager, so he felt confident about being offered a job, but it could still be a while.
    Ten days later, Tong’s office asked Mel again about the position in Chungking. At that point, Mel’s biggest sticking point was the contract that the publicity bureau was asking him to sign. He wanted to be able to leave if a real journalism opportunity appeared. This was quite possible, especially because Mel expected the reporters he’d met in Shanghai to regularly circulate through Chungking, allowing him to maintain the network he’d developed. Finally, Tong’s office relented and agreed to hire Mel without a contract.
    â€œI am more than glad now to be about to do something no matter what the compensation,” he wrote. “At least it’s a living—and an interesting