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Associate Justice Jackson and Dr. Chu
Library of Congress

Dr. Hung-Ti Chu, head of a delegation from China, speaks at an international student assembly in Washington, DC in September 1942, during the height of World War II. His topic is "Chinese students in the war," and afterward, he is warmly greeted by Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson of the U.S. Supreme Court.

A native of Peiping in the Province of Yunnan, Mainland China, Hung-Ti was the husband of Esther Briney, daughter of John and Charlotte (Shaw) Briney of the family of David and Margaret (Darling) Welker.

Hung-Ti initially studied for two years at Tsing Hua University in what today is Beijing before emigrating in 1927 to the United States. He went on to earn a bachelor of arts at the University of Wisconsin (1934), a master’s degree from the University of Missouri and a doctorate from the University of Illinois (1937). In the late 1930s, he was prevented from returning to his native country to teach due to the Japanese occupation in the leadup to the war.

The Chus went on to establish a residence in Mount Vernon, NY where from 1946 to 1968 he was employed by the United Nations as a specialist on the Pacific region. Said the Pomona (CA) Progress-Bulletin, he "served as human rights officer of the U.N. Secretariat, spent two years for the commission in Korea and was assigned to the Department of Trusteeship, first as an area specialist and then as chief of the Africa-Asia Section." During his career, Hung-Ti spoke widely about the UN and peace across the country. One of his topics was the UN's role in promoting self-rule for dependent peoples. In a speech given at a Church of the Ascension communion service in 1963, he declared that "If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships, the ability of all peoples of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world at peace."

After leaving the UN, he became professor of government at Texas Tech University. He was among 450 scholarly contributors to the Britannica Book of the Year, 1973.

In her own right, Esther received her bachelor's degree in 1935 from the University of Illinois followed by a master's degree in history in 1936. Her master's thesis was "The Policy of Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson Toward China." She went on to teach history at Sarah Lawrence College. The Chus eventually retired to LaVerne, CA. Interested in genealogy, Esther published the book Briney Families Coast to Coast. She also co-authored several books, including the 1979 Briney Patriots, Pioneers and Families and a 1986 family history, Briney Families 1713-1976.

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