[Healeys] Fw: 100 Service Manual trivia query

[Alan Seigrist]

Hong Kong was in the British Empire because FDR had died in early 1945, if
you can believe it.  FDR was vehemently anti-colonial and Churchill
understood in principle that they would have to give up all colonies in
exchange for US help in the war.

FDR, fortunately for the British, died before the end of the war and with
Truman (a Missouri haberdasher) in the Whitehouse, he was much less
concerned with the colonies.  Because Truman was President when the war was
over, Hong Kong was not handed over to Chiang Kai Shek... meaning that if
FDR had survived the war, Hong Kong as part of the ROC would have turned
communist in 1949.

It's also good fun to know the two greatest Dutch leaders in history were
American Presidents, and the greatest Prime Minister in the history of
Britain was half American.

:)

Alan


On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 2:59 PM, Oudesluys <coudesluijs at chello.nl> wrote:

> In those days Hong Kong was part of the British Empire, so still British
> printed.
> Kees Oudesluijs
> NL