By 1953–4, American soldiers, officials, businessmen and ordinary citizens were coming into contact with an ever-widening number of Asian states and societies, as the aftermath of the Korean War and the retreat of European colonialism saw a vacuum open up which American policy-makers and commercial interests, fearful of both Communist encroachments and losing new business opportunities, were eager to fill. Expansion of American power and influence also brought increased exposure and interest in the racial mores of American society. ‘No American returning from Asia can doubt that the status of the American Negro is a key to our country's relationship with the awakening nations of Asia and Africa,’ Chester Bowles declared in an article published in the New York Times Magazine in early February 1954. ‘The colored peoples who comprise two-thirds of the world's population simply cannot think about the United States without considering bitterly the limitations under which our 15,000,000 Americans with colored skins are living. Communist propagandists, of course, exaggerate the picture. They tell Asians that lynch law is the rule with us. They make the fantastic assertion that the atom bomb was dropped on Japan and not on Germany because the Japanese are colored while the Germans are white. But make no mistake about it, the resentment would still be with us if the Communists shut up shop tomorrow.’