Harvard Graduate Acts As Red Envoy At Peace Talks

Many Harvard graduates are fighting in the Korean war, but probably the most colorful and doubtless the most unusual is Colonel Shou-Shan Pu, who is now the peace negotiator for the Chinese communists in Panmunjom, Korea. It is believed that he has been at this job for the past four or five months.

Pu attended the graduate school of arts and sciences from 1943 to 1948, receiving his Masters degree in Economics in March of 1944 and his Doctorate in Economics in March of 1950, three months before the start of the Korean war.

Pu is the main spokesman for the truce party and does most of the talking to the American press. He has been quoted many times over the Associated Press wires and in the newspapers.

Born on November 27, 1923, in Peiping, Pu spent most of his early years in Chinese schools with his two brothers, Shou-chang and Shou-hal, also Harvard graduates. Sons of a wealthy Shanghai banker, the three boys were given an opportunity to attend college in America. Pu entered the University of Michigan in 1939. Majoring in Economics, he was generally judged a willing and able student by his classmates. After his graduation in 1943 he entered Harvard where he worked under the late and famous Harvard Economist Professor Joseph A. Schumpeter, ex-Ceorge F. Paker Professor of Economics. When interviewed, Mrs. Schumpeter remarked that of the three Pu brothers Shou-Shan was by far the brightest, and a very likable and capable person. She continued that he worked very closely with the later professor.

After receiving his masters degree Pu taught at Michigan State University and Carlton College. He then returned to Cambridge to complete work on his doctoral thesis. Writing on the topic, "Technological Progress and Employment," he completed it too late to be granted his doctorate in 1949, but it was presented in March of 1950, after he had returned to China.

Pu returned to the United States in September of 1950 as a member of the unsuccessful Chinese Communist delegation to the United Nation. He acted as interpreter at that time, but dropped out of prominence after returning to China.

Opinions Divided

Opinions about him were divided among his ex-classmates and friends. Some believed that he was an avowed Communist when in the United States while others noticed no such tendencies.

Gottfried Haberler, Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics, stated that Pu was a "likable boy and a brilliant student." He continued, "It is a shame that he would go back on us after we gave him an education." Haberler said that he had heard a rumor a few years ago that Pu tried to organize the Chinese students into a Communist group, but he (Haberler) could find no proof for the story.

Presenting a picture of Pu as a student, Arther Smithies, Chairman of the Economics Department, said that at Michigan Pu was charming and intelligent, and possibly one of the brightest men in the undergraduate body. Smithies didn't believe that Pu was an agitator, but he did note pronounced Communist sympathies. Smithies said, "He was intellectually and emotionally connected to party line." Smithies pointed to Pu's case as rather unusual, in that most Communists stayed away from the Economics department.

Another personal friend of Pu's was Guy H. Orcutt, Assistant Professor of Economics, and a classmate at Michigan. He reiterated what the others have said about Pu's personability and intelligence. He remarked that no one in the University had anything bad to say about him. His key remark, however, was that, to his knowledge, Pu was not a Communist when attending Michigan.

Professor Wassily W. Leontief also of the Economics Department worked with Professor Schumpeter before his death and consequently was in close contact with Pu. He said that Pu was alert, fast and almost always in a good mood. Leontief remarked that if he were choosing a peace negotiater he could not think of a better person. Pu had the unusual faculty of knowing what a person was about to say before he said it. Leontief did not know of any Communist leanings.

In the Korean peace talks Pu has maintained a relatively moderate position, refraining from extensive propagandizing and attacks on "capitalist warmongers."

The CRIMSON has attempted to contact Pu in Korea, but at the time of this