1942年由中華民國先總統蔣介石領導的對日抗戰進入最艱苦階段，宋美齡作為蔣中正的特使，於該年11月訪問美國，1943年2月18日在美國國會發表演說，掀起了一陣〝宋美齡旋風〞，取得美國對中國抗戰的更多支持，成功改寫了抗日歷史。
宋美齡在參議院進行20分鐘即席演說，她講到中美兩國人民有160年傳統友誼，杜立德將軍和部下一起去轟炸東京，數名美國飛行員1942年4月在回航時在中國山區跳傘，其中一人後來告訴宋美齡，他獲中國人民的熱烈歡迎，歡迎他猶如失散多年的手足，令他感覺如同回家。
宋美齡說：〝我生命中成長的歲月是和貴國人民一起度過，我說你們的話，我想的和你們一樣，說的也和你們一樣。所以今天來到這裡，我也感覺我好像回到家了。〞
她的開場白獲得如雷掌聲。接下來她強調：中美兩國人民實為同一目的而戰。〝不過，我相信不只是我回到了家，如果中國人民會用你們的語言與你們說話， 或者你們能了解我們的語言，他們會告訴你們，根本而言，我們都在為相同的理念奮戰；我們有一致的理想；亦即貴國總統向全世界揭示的‘四個自由’，自由的鐘聲、聯合國自由的鐘聲等，和侵略者的喪鐘響徹我國遼闊的土地。〞
全場再次熱烈鼓掌。宋美齡談及如何不讓理想流於空言，講了她和蔣委員長在前線長沙抵抗侵略的時候，他們上衡山，見到的一處兩千多年前的古迹〝磨鏡 台〞的故事。兩千年前，台址近旁有一座古老的佛寺。一名年輕和尚來此修行，他整天盤腿坐禪，雙手合十，口中喃喃念著〝阿彌陀佛！阿彌陀佛！阿彌陀佛！〞他唱念佛號，日復一日，因為他希望成佛。寺裡的住持於是也跟著拿一塊磚去磨一塊石頭，時時刻刻的磨，一天又一天的磨，一周又一周的磨。小和尚有時抬眼瞧瞧老和尚在做什麼。住持只是一個勁兒拿磚磨石。終於有一天，小和尚對住持說：〝大師，您每天拿這塊磚磨石頭，到底為什麼呢?〞住持答道：〝我要用這塊磚做鏡子。〞小和尚說：〝可磚塊是做不成鏡子的呀，大師。〞〝沒錯，〞住持說：〝就像你成天光念阿彌陀佛，是成不了佛的。〞
因此，朋友們，〝我覺得，我們不但必須有理想，不但要昭告我們有理想，我們還必須以行動來落實理想。〞她的演講獲得參議院全體與會者的熱烈反響，含義深刻的故事打動了議員們的心扉。
1943年宋美齡訪問期間不但引起了美國普通民眾的轟動，眾多好萊塢明星也加入了宋美齡的粉絲群，以一睹宋美齡的高貴為榮。
參院演講結束後，宋美齡再至眾議院議事廳發表演說，宋美齡是第一位在美國國會發表演說的中國人。20分鐘的演講中她向國會議員和美國人民介紹了中國人民獨自奮力抗戰的艱苦歷程，呼籲世人正視日本對亞洲以及世界和平的威脅，勸說美國將注意力從歐洲對納粹戰場轉移到日本對中國侵略。
〝現時有人認為：擊敗日本，為目前比較次要之事，而吾人首應對付者，則為希特勒……吾人慎勿忘，日本今日在其佔領區內所掌握的資源，較諸德國所掌握者更為豐富。吾人慎勿忘，如果聽任日本佔有此種資源而不爭抗，則為時愈久，其力量亦必愈大。多遷延一日，即多犧牲若干美國人與中國人之生命。〞
〝中國人民獨立抗戰五年有餘，我們寧願奮勇犧牲到最後一兵一卒，絕不願苟延殘喘接受失敗。〞宋美齡最後擲地有聲的說：〝個人之品德，於困厄中驗之， 亦於成功中驗之。以言一國之精神，倍加真確。〞話音一落，眾院議事廳爆出了歷久不歇的掌聲，一名議員說他從來沒有見過這樣的場面，宋差點讓他掉下眼淚。
當時，美國朝野對1941年12月7日日本空襲珍珠港和美軍在太平洋戰爭初期遭受重創記憶猶新，對中國艱苦抗戰的英勇表現產生由衷敬意。美國眾議院外交委員會主席勃羅姆感慨地說：〝蔣夫人演講時態度之優雅，解釋世界局勢之透徹，運用英語之流利靈巧，不但使每一聽眾能了解其意義，且能與其抱取同一見解，蒞美外賓之影響美國民眾者，從無若蔣夫人之甚!〞
宋美齡赴美前，中印航線上53架運輸機每月運量不足1,500噸。宋美齡美國國會演講後的3月10日，羅斯福致電蔣介石：批准創立由陳納德任司令的第十四航空隊，並儘快將陳納德飛機增至500架；另外增加進行〝駝峰〞空運的飛機數量，最終目標是達到每月1萬噸物資。事實表明，1944年上半年，美國援華空軍飛機超過了500架，下半年通過〝駝峰〞航線的來華物資，每月超過46,600餘噸。
蔣介石盛讚：夫人的能力，抵得上20個陸軍師。宋美齡在美國進行了為期半年多的訪問，為中國的抗日爭取了最大限度的美援，從美國民間就爭取到數以千萬計的美元援助，給在最艱苦條件下堅持抗戰的中國人民大力的支持。此外，她陪同蔣中正出席開羅會議，所到之處，風靡全場，確保中華民國領土完整，卓有貢獻。
中共歷來愚弄欺騙中國民眾，將抗戰之功貪為己有，聲稱中共是抗戰的主要力量，指責蔣介石是竊取抗戰勝利果實的賣國賊，也不提美國當年對中國抗戰的巨大幫助，其實，僅宋美齡在抗戰期間的這段歷史事實，已足以顛覆中共的說辭。
宋美齡一生跨越3個世紀，經歷開國、抗戰、戡亂等時期。回顧這位〝中華民國永遠的第一夫人〞一生，幾乎等於半部中國近代史。她於政治、軍事、外交、社會、婦運各方面，都有亮麗的表現，曾被推舉為世界十大最具影響力的女性之一。
1979年中美關係正常化後，宋美齡在美國仍堅持反共復國的理想，並曾發表〝給廖承志的公開信〞〝為勸告鄧穎超信服三民主義統一中國〞公開信。2003年10月23日（美國時間）深夜11時17分於美國紐約逝世，享壽106歲。
宋美齡1943年2月18日在美國眾議院的演說
On February
18, 1943, China's first lady, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, delivers a speech before
the House and the Senate appealing to the U.S. Congress to provide aid for the
Nationalists in their struggle against Japan and the Chinese Communists.
(Soong
Mei-ling, “Addresses to the House of Representatives and to the Senate,”
February18,1943.)
Mr.
Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives of the United States:
At any
time it would be a privilege for me to address Congress, more especially this
present august body which will have so much to do in shaping the destiny of the
world. In speaking to Congress I am literally speaking to the American people.
The Seventy-seventh Congress, as their representatives, fulfilled the
obligations and responsibilities of its trust by declaring war on the
aggressors. That part of the duty of the people’s representatives was
discharged in1941. The task now confronting you is to help win the war and to
create and uphold a lasting peace which will justify the sacrifices and
sufferings of the victims of aggression.
Before
enlarging on this subject, I should like to tell you a little about my long and
vividly interesting trip to your country from my own land which has bled and
borne unflinchingly the burden of war for more than51/2 years. I shall not
dwell, however, upon the part China has played in our united effort to free
mankind from brutality and violence. I shall try to convey to you, however
imperfectly, the impressions gained during the trip.
First
of all, I want to assure you that the American people have every right to be
proud of their fighting men in so many parts of the world. I am particularly
thinking of those of your boys in the far-flung, ut-of-the-way stations and
areas where life is attended by dreary drabness—this because their duty is not
one of spectacular performance and they are not buoyed up by excitement of
battle. They are called upon, day after colorless day, to perform routine
duties such as safeguarding defenses and preparing for possible enemy action.
It has been said, and I find it true from personal experience, that it is
easier to risk one’s life on the battlefield than it is to perform customary
humble and humdrum duties which, however, are just as necessary to winning the
war. Some of your troops are stationed in isolated spots quite out of reach of
ordinary communications. Some of your boys have had to fly hundreds of hours
over the sea from an improvised airfield in quests often disappointingly
fruitless, of enemy submarines.
They,
and others, have to stand the monotony of waiting—just waiting. But, as I told
them, true patriotism lies in possessing the morale and physical stamina to
perform faithfully and conscientiously the daily tasks so that in the sum total
the weakest link is the strongest.
Your
soldiers have shown conclusively that they are able stoically to endure
homesickness, the glaring dryness, and scorching heat of the Tropics, and keep
themselves fit and in excellent fighting trim. They are amongst the unsung
heroes of this war, and everything possible to lighten their tedium and buoy up
their morale should be done. That sacred duty is yours. The American Army is
better fed than any army in the world. This does not mean, however, that they
can live indefinitely on canned food without having the effects tell on them.
These admittedly are the minor hardships of war, especially when we pause to
consider that in many parts of the world, starvation prevails. But peculiarly
enough, oftentimes it is not the major problems of existence which irk a man’s
soul; it is rather the pin pricks, especially those incidentals to a life of
deadly sameness, with tempers frayed out and nervous systems torn to shreds.
The
second impression of my trip is that America is not only the cauldron of
democracy, but the incubator of democratic principles. At some of the places I
visited, I met the crews of your air bases. There I found first generation
Germans, Italians, Frenchmen, Poles, Czechoslovakians, and other nationals.
Some of them had accents so thick that, if such a thing were possible, one
could not cut them with a butter knife. But there they were—all Americans all
devoted to the same ideals, all working for the same cause and united by the
same high purpose. No suspicion or rivalry existed between them. This increased
my belief and faith that devotion to common principles eliminates differences
in race, and that identity of ideals is the strongest possible solvent of
racial dissimilarities.
轉自阿波羅 來源：南加州大學美中學院
(影／取自YouTube，若遭移除請見諒)
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