The Reasons For The Changes In American Reports Of The Nanjing Massacre

When the Nanjing Massacre happened in13December1937, there weretwenty-one American nationals in Nanjing. They not only experienced and witnessedthe Nanjing Massacre, but also made great contribution to reporting and recording thisatrocity. After the end of WWII, the Nanjing Massacre encountered the collectiveamnesia in the United States. However, in the1980s, discussions on the NanjingMassacre appeared frequently in American newspapers. This paper takes Americannews reports on the Nanjing Massacre in different periods as research object andanalyzes how American foreign policies in different periods affected its reporting theNanjing Massacre.This paper is divided into three chapters. Chapter one focuses on Americangovernment manipulation of the media and American news reports on the NanjingMassacre during WWII and during the Cold War. Chapter two tries to prove thatAmerican treating Japan as a common enemy of both China and the United States andAmerican falling victim to Japanese atrocities in Nanjing are the main reasons forAmerican positive report of the Nanjing Massacre during WWII. Chapter two alsoproves that American collective amnesia of the Nanjing Massacre during the ColdWar is the direct result of the poor Sino-U.S. relations in this period and Americanshielding Japan. Chapter three tries to prove that discussion on the Nanjing Massacrein American newspapers in the1980s is stirred up by the normalization of theSino-U.S. relations and American worries about Japan’s way of treating its wartimememory.