In the late 1950s and 1960s, the threat of aggression from China was a fact of life in Taiwan. Holmgren remembers visiting Kinmen between shelling rounds, where massive, mainland-facing speakers alternately blasted propaganda across the Strait and were blown out by mainland artillery.
"Those were very dicey times," says Phillips.
The US govern-ment's careful observation of China brought top government officials, military and intelligence personnel, and renowned international journalists to Taipei.
In 1958, the Chinese threat became more grave.
Phillips remembers one instance when Americans received warnings of a possible attack.
While giving out homework assignments that day at TAS, she remembers thinking, "We could all be on a destroyer heading out to sea by tomorrow."
Even when times were not so tense, the ROC government often reminded expatriates of the continuing war with China.
"You never began a dinner party without raising your glass to returning to the mainland," says Phillips. She also tells of the huge banners around Taipei with blue-painted slogans promising to return to the Motherland. Meanwhile, any mention of the mainland under PRC rule was absolutely taboo.
It was a time of meticulously censored news, when officials at the Government Information Office combed over Time magazine and all other publications to cut or blot out references to the PRC government.
Most reassuring to the chamber during times of tension was the access AmCham leaders were afforded to the top levels of the ROC government.
"Meeting with the [ROC] government in those days was simple," says early AmCham member Li Sueling, who moved to Taipei from New York in 1962.
Li spent several years on the board of governors while he worked in the grain and food products business, then in publishing. "We were supported by the government. Most high ranking officials were educated in the US."
He remembers the chamber addressing issues related to import-export regulations and foreign exchange, as well as problems concerning schools, churches, and medical institutions.
Because the US military and US government personnel dominated the foreign community, Li says "the scattered US civilians needed to unite themselves to be functional."
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