Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Michelle Phipps-Evans
Washington, DC – Hundreds of well-wishers converged at the Mayflower Hotel in NW Washington, D.C. on June 22nd to reminisce and to celebrate the birthday of an icon. The elegantly dressed audience dined on salmon and Angus beef, and enjoyed birthday cake and lively conversations.
They came to celebrate the 88th birthday of Anna Chennault, chairwoman for the Council for International Cooperation (CIC), a D.C.-based nonprofit established to bring together nations of the world for peace and mutual prosperity.
But Chennault is more than that.
“She was an incredible role model for all of us,” said keynote speaker Catherine Forslund, a professor of history at Rockford University in Rockford, IL, who wrote a book about Chennault as the first female journalist for the Central News Agency in China. “Her career is that of a feminist where she broke barriers in the U.S. and in China.”
Born in China on June 23, 1925, Chennault moved to Washington, D.C. in 1958 after the death of her husband, General Clair L. Chennault, the founder of the Flying Tigers. The Flying Tigers was the first American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941. The air force destroyed more than 2,600 Japanese aircraft and safeguarded China’s rear area in the air, and smashed attempts by the Japanese in the Anti-Fascism War of the 1930s and 1940s.
Chennault, a member of the Republican Party, became the first overseas Chinese in the White House. She was appointed to positions that allowed her to serve as a liaison for eight presidents and visited Taiwan and mainland China as President Ronald Reagan’s special envoy at the end of 1980.
Due to her work, she became known as a goodwill ambassador between China and the United States. And this is the legacy she wants remembered, said CIC senior vice president, David Yao.
“By using her journalistic skills, she would explain to the people of each country the importance of understanding and working with each other.” said Yao. Yao often speaks on behalf of Chennault since the 88-year-old doesn’t give many interviews.
At the birthday celebration, Sir Michael Leung, founder of the American African Asian Chamber of Commerce and Honorary Mayor of New Jersey, and his wife, Frances, travelled from New York to be there with their friend.
“It was so great for us to be here,” said Leung. Likewise, Sabena Haar, another longtime friend, felt it important to celebrate her 88th.
“I met Anna through another friend,” said Haar who lives in Alexandria, Va. “She’s always been very thoughtful and kind to me and has included me in her family get-togethers and dinner parties.” Even the parade of well-wishers and family members talked of a life that mattered, which gave back to the community and that continues to do so.
Yao said Chennault’s basic life philosophy is that “one has to stand up and speak up for what one believes.”
At the birthday celebration, Chennault and the audience were serenaded by 7-year-old Zixun Wang from the Potomac Children’s Choir and concert pianist Jiayue Yang as well as opera singer Haunhuan Ma.
The celebration culminated in the singing of the traditional happy birthday song, the cake cutting and some dancing.
“She feels she has lived a full and eventful life,” said Yao about Chennault’s legacy. “After she lost her husband to cancer, she has tried to forge ahead to make a living for herself and to bring up two young daughters. In so doing, she managed to attain a level achievement unimaginable for an outsider, widowed, Asian woman. She did what she felt she had to do, and did it through the opportunities that came along, and she will leave it to the future generations to determine what her true legacy might be.”
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