Soong, T. V. Orig. Sung Tzu-wen 宋子文 T. V. Soong (4 December 1894-), Harvard-trained financier who was the prime mover in the establishment of a modern financial system in China. He served the National Government in such capacities as minister of finance, vice president and president of the Executive Yuan, governor of the Central Bank of China, and minister of foreign affairs. He also founded and developed such enterprises as the China Development Finance Corporation.
The third child and eldest son of Charles Jones Soong (q.v.), T. V. Soong was born in Shanghai. He received thorough training in both the Chinese classics and modern subjects while a student in the preparatory and college divisions of St. John's University and then went to the United States to enroll at Harvard College. After being graduated from Harvard in 1915 with a B.A. in economics, he went to New York, where he worked at the International Banking Corporation and took courses at Columbia University. He returned to China in 1917 and became secretary of the Han-yeh-p'ing iron and coal complex, which was composed of a steel mill at Hanyang, iron mines at Tayeh, and coal mines at P'inghsiang. Before long, he became active in trade and banking circles in Shanghai.
In October 1923 Sun Yat-sen, who had married T. V. Soong's elder sister Soong Ch'ing-ling (q.v.) in 1914, recruited T. V. Soong to serve as manager of the salt administration in Kwangtung and Kwangi, an important source of revenue for Sun's government. Sun then called on him to investigate the chaotic financial situation in Kwangtung in the hope that he could bring order to it. One result of this investigation was the establishment, in August 1924, of the Central Bank at Canton. Under T. V. Soong's management, the bank made immediate improvements in the financial situation, and in 1926 it undertook the financing of the early stage of the Northern Expedition. In addition to his responsibilities at the bank, Soong served with Chiang Kai-shek, T'an P'ing-shan, Sun Fo, and others on a committee for food control. As a relative of Sun Yat-sen, he was summoned to Peking in late January 1925 to witness Sun's last testament. He attended Sun's funeral in March 1925 before returning to south China.
T. V. Soong was named minister of finance in the newly established National Government at Canton in September 1925, a month after his predecessor, Liao Chung-k'ai (q.v.), had been assassinated. In January 1926, at the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang, he was elected to the Central Executive Committee and was named minister of commerce. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed to the National Government (State) Council. The year 1926 also saw Soong's baptism in international diplomacy: he was sent to Hong Kong to negotiate with British authorities about settlement of the anti-British strike that had paralyzed the colony for several months. In November 1926, after the Northern Expedition forces had occupied Wuhan, the National Government decided to send a five-man delegation to Wuhan to investigate the possibility of moving the government there. In addition to T. V. Soong, the team included Eugene Ch'en, Hsu Ch'ien, Sun Fo (qq.v.), and Soviet adviser Borodin. Accompanied by Soong Ch'ing-ling, they traveled to Wuhan by way of Nanchang, where they held discussions with Chiang Kai-shek at his military headquarters. After the arrival of the Kuomintang leaders from Canton in December, it was decided at Wuhan to organize a provisional joint session of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee and the National Government Council to serve as the interim authority pending transfer of the National Government to Wuhan. On 21 February 1927 it was announced that Wuhan would be the seat of the National Government. This decision was confirmed at the third plenum of the second Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, held at Hankow from 10 to 17 March. The Wuhan regime, dominated by the left wing of the Kuomintang and strongly influenced by Russian and Chinese Communists, was headed by Wang Ching-wei (q.v.), who returned to China from Europe at the beginning of April. T. V. Soong held many important posts at Wuhan. He was minister of finance, a member of the standing committee of the 28-man Government Council, a member of the 15-man Military Council, and a member of the Kuomintang Political Council.
In April 1927 Chiang Kai-shek and his conservative supporters inaugurated a rival government at Nanking. Just before this development, the Wuhan regime had dispatched T. V. Soong, Eugene Ch'en, and Sun Fo to Shanghai to review the situation and to ask leaders in the Shanghai area to come to Wuhan. Ch'en and Sun turned back mid-way in the journey, but Soong continued on to Shanghai. He tried without success to reconcile the supporters of Wang Ching-wei and the supporters of Chiang Kai-shek. Because he was unable to return to Wuhan — the Nanking regime controlled the Yangtze — he decided to remain in Shanghai.
Chiang Kai-shek retired from office in August 1927 to promote party unity. On 1 December, he married T. V. Soong's sister Soong Mei-ling (q.v.). At the beginning of 1928 he resumed leadership of the National Revolutionary Army, and T. V. Soong was named minister of finance in the National Government at Nanking. His family relationship with T. V. Soong benefitted Chiang in his rise to power, for it was mainly through Soong that the National Government came to have the backing of the powerful bankers and businessmen of Shanghai. Soong also was the key figure in the establishment of a modern financial system. Soon after T. V. Soong assumed office at Nanking, he revealed that the monthly revenue receipts of the National Government were less than China $3 million, while expenditures exceeded China $ll million. The provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang, which constituted the richest economic region in China, provided the bulk of the government revenues. Within three months, Soong had increased monthly revenue collections in this region to China $10 million. About this time, the Central Bank of China was established at Shanghai, with Soong as its governor.
In June 1928 at Shanghai T. V. Soong convened a national economic conference, to which he invited China's leading bankers, financiers, and industrialists. A month later, a national finance conference met at Nanking to formulate specific policies on the basis of the general decisions taken at the Shanghai meeting. A program aimed at restoration of China's tariff autonomy also began to take form. On 25 July, Soong and John Van Antwerp MacMurray, the United States minister to China, signed an agreement in principle giving complete national tariff autonomy to China. Similar agreements were signed with other Western nations between November 1928 and May 1930. In February 1930 the National Government officially began to practice tariff autonomy.
Perhaps the most important financial reform instituted by T. V. Soong was the abolition of the likin tax. Although this levy had given rise to many abuses and had long been considered a major instance of bad government, repeated attempts to do away with it had failed. On 31 December 1930 Soong announced its abolition as of 1931, and he enforced that decision. The financial policies of T. V. Soong and the support he won for the National Government played an essential part in the victory of Chiang Kai-shek in a series of civil wars in 1929-30. The importance of Soong's role and the significance of his contributions were reflected in the fact that several attempts were made on his life by rivals. In mid-1931 the Legislative Yuan decided to float a domestic relief bond issue in the amount of China $80 million. When T. V. Soong's strong opposition to this measure was ignored, he resigned in protest.
On 28 May 1931 a group of Kuomintang dissidents established an opposition national government at Canton as a direct result of the arrest of Hu Han-min (q.v.) by Chiang Kai-shek. Civil war threatened until September 1931, when the contending Kuomintang factions were reunited by a national crisis, the Japanese attack on Mukden. When the National Government was reorganized in December 1931, Sun Fo, the new president of the Executive Yuan, asked T. V. Soong to be minister of finance in his cabinet, but Soong declined. Sun's failure to win the support of Soong and the Shanghai financial community was an important factor in the almost immediate collapse of his cabinet.
Wang Ching-wei (q.v.) succeeded Sun Fo as president of the Executive Yuan on 28 January 1932. That very night, fighting broke out between Japanese troops in the Shanghai area and the Chinese Nineteenth Route Army (for details, see Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai). T. V. Soong played an indirect role in this encounter. As minister of finance, he had built up a well-equipped force of revenue guards for use in intercepting smugglers. This unit later became the New First Army of Burma campaign fame. When hostilities began in Shanghai, the revenue force joined with the Nineteenth Route Army in fighting the Japanese. Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, the Nineteenth Route Army's commander, later stated that Soong also gave money to the Chinese forces during the crisis.
In February 1 932 T. V. Soong was reappointed governor of the Central Bank of China, and in April of that year he became vice president of the Executive Yuan and minister of finance. His active presence in this government was an important factor in the temporary establishment of political equilibrium in Nationalist China and of what became known as the Chiang-Wang coalition, with Chiang Kai-shek in control of the military and Wang Ching-wei at the head of the civil administration of the National Government. In the 1932-33 period T. V. Soong accomplished another major reform in China's fiscal system: the abolition of the tael and the establishment of the silver dollar (yuan) as the standard legal tender of China.
From October 1932 to March 1933, while Wang Ching-wei was in Europe, T. V. Soong served as acting president of the Executive Yuan at Nanking. In April 1933 he went to London to attend the World Economic Conference. After that meeting, he visited Geneva, where he succeeded in stationing a liaison officer for technical aid to China. He then went to the United States, where he secured a cotton and wheat loan of U.S. $50 million on 23 August. Soon afterwards, Soong returned to China.
In October 1933 T. V. Soong resigned from his posts as vice president of the Executive Yuan, minister of finance, and governor of the Central Bank of China. One important reason for his resignation was his disagreement with Chiang Kai-shek over high military expenditures and the issuing of new bonds by the National Government. Soong retained his membership in the standing committee of the National Economic Council, but he devoted most of his time to entrepreneurial endeavors. In June 1934 he founded the China Development Finance Corporation, the stated aim of which was to promote and develop industry and commerce in China by encouraging foreign investment and by developing the domestic money market. Before and during the Sino- Japanese war, the development of rail networks was a prime concern of the corporation, and it negotiated loans on behalf of the National Government with British, French, and other foreign banks for this purpose. None of the railways was completed, however, because of the severe disruptions caused by the Sino- Japanese war. The China Development Finance Corporation also initiated negotiations with American firms in the mid-1930's in the hope of establishing rayon, paper, fertilizer, truck, and rubber factories in China. His resignation from National Government posts notwithstanding, Soong remained close to the centers of power in China. When the Bank of China, the nation's largest and most important private bank, was ordered to reorganize on 1 April 1935 in a move which placed it under the direct control of the National Government, Soong replaced Chang Kia-ngau (Chang Chia-ao, q.v.) as its chairman. He held that post until 1943.
At the time of the Sian Incident of December 1936 (see Chiang Kai-shek; Chang Hsueh-liang), T. V. Soong, as a relative of Chiang and a friend of Chang, played an active role in the negotiations that led to Chiang's release. Afterward, Soong reportedly was greatly angered because assurances of the non-punishment of Chang Hsueh-liang were not honored. Nevertheless, the Sian Incident was the prelude to Soong's re-entry into the political arena. In June 1937 he went to Canton and Wuchow to direct the reorganization of the financial structures of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. He flew to Lushan to report to Chiang Kai-shek just before the Sino-Japanese war broke out in July. Soong moved with the National Government to Chungking, where in March 1938 he became acting chairman of the National Aeronautical Affairs Commission, headed by Chiang Kai-shek. In mid- 1940 Soong was appointed Chiang Kai-shek's personal representative in the United States, and in February 1941 he succeeded in negotiating a credit of U.S. $50 million from the United States government against exports of metals. In April 1941 he represented China in negotiations which led to the granting of a second credit of U.S. $50 million.
With the outbreak of the War in the Pacific in early December 1941, China became a wartime ally of the United States and Great Britain. Because of his success as Chiang Kai-shek's representative in Washington, T. V. Soong was made minister of foreign affairs in the National Government. He was still in the United States at the time of his appointment. In January 1942, on behalf of China, he signed the 26-nation agreement at Washington that pledged the Allied powers not to make separate peace treaties with enemy nations. This agreement paved the way for the inclusion of China as one of the so-called Big Four nations, the others being the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. In February 1942 Soong concluded negotiations for a major credit loan of U.S. $500 million from the United States, and in June of that year he signed the Sino-American Lend-Lease Agreement. T. V. Soong returned to Chungking in the autumn of 1942 to assume office as minister of foreign affairs (Chiang Kai-shek had been acting as foreign minister pending Soong's return). In January 1943 the United States and Great Britain signed treaties with China in which they relinquished extraterritoriality and other special rights in China. Other Western nations soon followed this precedent. Although executed at a time when much of China was under Japanese control, the new treaties were widely represented by Chungking as the realization of one of the major aims of the Kuomintang. Soong was particularly gratified that the abolition of the principle of extraterritoriality took place during his tenure of office as minister of foreign affairs. Soong went to Washington again in February 1943 to see President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in March of that year he met with British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden while Eden was visiting Washington. After a brief trip to Canada in April, Soong flew to London in July for discussions with the British government on postwar planning. He was received by King George VI on 27 July. In August, he participated in the discussion of the Burma campaigns at the Quebec Conference. After his return to China in October 1943, T. V. Soong often welcomed and briefed official visitors from the United States. Among these visitors was Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who visited China in June 1944. In September 1944 Major General Patrick J. Hurley and Donald M. Nelson, chairman of the War Production Board, arrived in China on a special mission. Hurley attempted to serve as a mediator in the burgeoning Nationalist- Communist conflict. Soong was among those Nationalist leaders who strongly opposed the concept of coalition government with Communist participation. In December 1944, when H. H. K'ung left China on a mission to the United States, T. V. Soong became acting president of the Executive Yuan. In March 1945 it was announced that Soong would head the Chinese delegation to the United Nations Conference on
International Organization at San Francisco. When that meeting convened on 25 April, he was elected one of its four chairmen. The Chinese delegation at San Francisco was interesting in that one of its members was the Chinese Communist Tung Pi-wu (q.v.), whom T. V. Soong had known at Wuhan in 1927. While in the United States, Soong met with President Harry S. Truman to discuss Far Eastern problems and postwar Sino-American cooperation.
T. V. Soong was appointed president of the Executive Yuan on 31 May 1945. He returned to Chungking on 20 June and assumed office five days later, retaining his post as minister of foreign affairs. His major task at this time was the negotiation of a Sino-Soviet treaty of friendship based on an American commitment to Russian influence in Manchuria during the Yalta Conference. He arrived at Moscow on 30 June, and by 12 July he had met with Stalin several times. At this point, the talks were interrupted and Soong returned to Chungking, where on 20 July he reported to the People's Political Council on the Moscow negotiations. He strenuously objected to concessions to the Soviet Union in Outer Mongolia. On 30 July, he relinquished his foreign ministership to Wang Shih-chieh (q.v.). He returned to Moscow on 5 August, accompanied by Wang. This round of talks led to the signing on 14 August of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance and related agreements which, among other things, established a framework for the independence of Outer Mongolia. Despite strong opposition, the treaty was ratified by the Legislative Yuan.
By this time, the War in the Pacific had ended, with Japan defeated and the military forces of the Soviet Union in control of Manchuria. After General George C. Marshall arrived in China at the end of 1945 to confront the task of mediating between the Nationalists and the Chinese Communists, Soong spent much of his time in consultation with General Marshall and Chiang Kai-shek. But the American mediation effort soon failed—largely because of the bitter mutual suspicion that divided the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communists—and full-scale civil war erupted again in China in the summer of 1946. Meanwhile, the economic situation in Nationaliscontrolled areas of China was deteriorating rapidly. T. V. Soong was chairman of the Supreme National Economic Council, and he was forced to introduce emergency measures and restrictions that were unpopular in his attempts to bolster China's sagging economy. His efforts were unsuccessful. Moreover, there was increasing personal criticism of Soong at this time. In March 1947 he resigned as president of the Executive Yuan, though he continued to serve the National Government as a member of the State Council. In September 1947, despite opposition from the Control Yuan, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Soong governor and pacification commissioner of Kwangtung. When Chiang retired from the presidency in January 1949, Soong relinquished his posts at Canton. Soong, whose name was high on the list of so-called war criminals announced by the Chinese Communists, went to the United States and established residence in New York. T. V. Soong was an unusual figure in Chinese politics during the republican period. His Western ways made him unpopular with many Chinese, and his work was better known and more highly regarded by Westerners than by his compatriots. Because of his Harvard training, fluency in English, and ability to mix socially with prominent Westerners, he was regarded with suspicion by many Kuomintang and National Government officials. At the same time, he was hailed by Western observers as the possessor of the most astute financial mind in China, and he often was praised by Americans for his industry, efficiency, and courage. Soong also was criticized in China because of family relationships. Although he often was on less than cordial terms with Chiang Kai-shek and H. H. K'ung, he nevertheless was invariably associated with them as a target of public censure. The Chinese Communists in particular excoriated Soong as an unprincipled "compradore and bureaucratic capitalist" who utilized official position for personal gain. The extent of Soong's financial interests is unknown, but rumor credited him with a substantial private fortune. In his heyday, he sometimes was referred to as the J. P. Morgan of China. Soong initiated many new enterprises under the aegis of the China Development Finance Corporation and the Bank of China: the China Cotton Corporation, the South China Rice Import Corporation, the Bank of Canton (a private bank with Hong Kong registration), and the Yangtze Electric Company, among others.
In 1927 T. V. Soong married Chang Lo-yi, who was also known as Laura Chang. They had three daughters — Laurette, Mary-Jane, and Katherine — all of whom were raised and educated in the United States. In time, the Soongs also came to have nine grand-children.
宋子文
宋子文(1894.12.4—),在哈佛受过训练的财政家,是建立中国近代财经制度的首要推动者。历任国民政府财政部长,行政院副院长、院长,中央银行总裁,外交部长,创办和发展中国财经开发公司等企业。
宋子文是宋嘉树的长子、第三个孩子,在上海出生。他在圣约翰大学预备班和大学班精研中国古书及近代科目,然后去美国进哈佛大学,1915年毕业获经济学硕士学位后去纽约国际银行工作,并在哥伦比亚大学听课。1917年回国,任汉冶萍煤铁公司秘书,该公司由汉阳钢厂、大冶铁矿和萍乡煤矿组成。不久他在上海商界、银行界积极活动。
1923年10月,已与宋子文的姐姐宋庆龄在1914年结婚的孙逸仙,请宋子文担任两广盐务稽核所长。盐税是孙逸仙政府的重要税源,孙当时要他考察广东混乱的财政情况,希望他能将它整理就绪。调查后1924年8月在广州创立了中央银行。该银行在宋子文经营下,很快使财经情况有所改善,1926年担负了北伐初期的财政支出。此外,他又与蒋介石、谭平山、孙科等人经管粮食管理委员会,1925年1月,他因系孙逸仙的亲戚被请去北京,作为孙逸仙立遗嘱时的见证人,3月参加了葬礼后回华南。
1925年9月,宋子文任新在广州成立的国民政府的财政部长,那是他的前任廖仲恺被害之后一个月。1926年1月,宋子文在国民党第二次全国代表大会上当选为中央执行委员,任商业部长,不久,又任国民政府委员。1926年,宋子文开始经手国际外交事务,他被派去香港与英国当局谈判解决造成香港瘫痪数月之久的反英罢工。
1926年11月,北伐军占领武汉后,国民政府决定派一个五人代表团去武汉了解将政府迁往那里的可能性,代表中除宋子文外,还有陈友仁、徐谦、孙科、苏联顾问鲍罗廷,同行者有宋庆龄。他们经南昌去武汉,在南昌时与蒋介石在他的司令部进行了商谈。12月,国民党首领从广州到武汉,决定在国民政府迁往武汉前,成立国民党中央执行委员会和国民政府委员会临时联合会议,代行政府职权。1927年2月21日,宣布武汉为国民政府首都,这项决定又经3月10日至17日在汉口召开的二届三中全会通过。武汉政府由国民党左派掌权,受俄国和中国共产党强烈影响,以4月初由欧洲回国的汪精卫为首。宋子文在武汉担任多种要职,他是财政部长、二十八人的政府委员会的常委、十五人的军事委员会成员,又是国民党政治会议成员。
1927年4月,蒋介石以及支持他的保守派在南京成立了一个对峙的政府。在此之前,武汉政府派出宋子文、陈友仁、孙科去上海观察情势,并请上海地区的首领到武汉去。陈,孙半途折回,宋继续前去上海。他企图使汪精卫和蒋介石双方的支持人进行和解,未获成功,当时南京政府已控制了长江,宋子文未能回武汉,乃决计留在上海。
1927年8月,蒋介石为维护国民党的团结而辞职,12月1日,他与宋子文的妹妹宋美龄结婚。1928年初,蒋介石又上台统率国民革命军,宋子文任南京政府财政部长。蒋介石与宋子文家庭的关系帮助蒋掌握了权力,因为主要是通过宋家使国民政府得到了上海大银行家与商界人土的支持。宋子文在近代财经制度的创立方面也是一个关键人物。
宋子文在南京任职以后,发现国民政府每月收入不足三百万元,而开支则在一千一百万元以上。江浙两省是中国最富庶的地区,提供了政府收入的大部分,三个月内,宋子文就在此地区为政府每月增加收入至一千万元,同时,中央银行已在上海设立,宋子文任总裁。
1928年6月,宋子文邀请银行界、财经界、实业界的首要人物在上海举行全国经济会议。一个月后,全国财经会议在南京召开,以上海会议的决定为基础制订具体政策,也形成了恢复关税自主的计划。7月25日,宋子文和美国驻华公使马慕瑞签订原则协定,给予中国完全的关税自主权。1928年11月至1930年5月间,与其他西方国家签订了类似协定。1930年2月,国民政府开始正式行使关税自主权。
宋子文在财经方面最重大的改革恐怕要算是废除厘金制度了。厘金早已为人所诟病,历来都是腐败政府的主要弊病,多次准备废除终又失败。1930年12月31日,宋子文宣布废除厘金并于1931年起即予执行。宋子文的财经政策及其为国民政府争取到的支持,对蒋介石1929—30年多次内战中取得胜利起了重要作用。宋的敌手曾多次企图谋杀他,这也反映了宋子文的地位及其贡献的重要。1931年中,立法院决定发行国内救济公债八千万元,宋子文强烈反对,但被置之不理,他于是辞职以示抗议。
1931年5月28日,因胡汉民被蒋介石逮捕,国民党的一些反对派在广州成立了反对派国民政府。内战威胁着人们,直至1931年9月,日本侵入沈阳,国难当前,国民党内对立各派又重新团结。1931年12月,国民政府改组时,新任行政院长孙科请宋子文任财政部长,宋未接受。孙科得不到宋子文和上海财政界的支持,这是他的内阁很快就垮台的重要原因。
1932年1月28日,汪精卫继孙科任行政院长。当晚,驻沪日军和中国的十九路军发生冲突。宋子文间接地参与了这次冲突。宋子文任财政部长时,曾组织了装备优良的税警队巡查缉私,这一部分力量后来成为缅甸战场上知名的新一军。淞沪战争爆发后,税警队曾协同十九路军对日作战,十九路军总司令蔡廷锴后来还说到在冲突期间宋子文曾给以军费。
1932年2月,宋子文再任中央银行总裁,4月,任行政院副院长、财政部长。他积极参与政府活动,对暂时建立起国民党内的政治平衡和蒋汪联盟起了重要作用。在这个联盟中,蒋掌管国民政府的军事,汪掌内政。1932—33年间,宋子文对中国财政制度实施了另一项重要改革,废除银两制而建立银元(元)作为中国法定标准货币。
1932年10月到1933年8月,汪精卫去欧期间,宋子文为代行政院长。1933年4月,他去伦敦出席世界经济会议,会后去日内瓦,成功地设置了对华实行技术援助的联络人员。以后又去美国,8月23日取得五千万美元的棉麦借款,然后回国。
1933年10月,宋子文辞去行政院副院长、财政部长、中央银行总裁各职,辞职的一个重要原因是因为军费开支巨大以及国民政府发行公债而与蒋介石不一致。他虽继续任全国经济委员会常务委员,却以主要精力从事企业活动。1934年6月,成立中国财经开发公司,其目的系鼓励外国投资,活跃国内金融市场,发展中国工商业。中日战争之前及战争期间,兴建铁路是该公司的主要打算,并为此而替国民政府向英、法及其他外国银行谈判借款。由于中日战争所造成的严重破坏,一条铁路都没有完成。三十年代中期,该公司还与美国企业谈判,准备在中国开设人造丝、造纸、化肥、卡车、橡胶等等工厂。尽管他辞去了国民政府的职务,他仍然接近中国的权力中心。1935年4月1日,全国最大的最重要的私人银行中国银行进行改组,以便国民政府直接控制,宋子文继张嘉璈任董事长,直到1943年止。
1936年12月西安事变时,作为蒋介石的亲戚和张学良的朋友,宋子文在谈判释放蒋介石中起了重要作用。据说后来他对未能遵守不惩处张学良的保证而大为愤怒。但是西安事变毕竟是揭开了宋子文重入政界的序幕。1937年6月他去广州、梧州,指导改革两广经济结构。7月,中日战争发生前,他飞往庐山向蒋介石汇报。以后宋子文随同国民政府迁到重庆,1938年3月担任由蒋介石为主席的全国航空委员会代主席。1940年中,宋子文任蒋介石的私人代表去美国,1941年2月以出口金属换得五千万美元借款,1941年4月,又代表政府获得借款五千万美元。
1941年12月初太平洋战争爆发,中国成了美、英的盟国,宋子文因曾以蒋介石私人代表的身份在华盛顿取得成功,于是被任命为国民政府外交部长,当时他仍在美国。1942年1月,宋子文以中国代表身份在华盛顿签订二十六国协定,规定各盟国不得单独与敌国媾和。这个协定使中国成了四大强国之一,其他三国是美、英、苏。1942年2月,宋子文谈判成功,从美国取得五亿美元借款,6月,签订中美租借协定。
1942年秋,宋子文回重庆就任外交部长(宋到任前蒋介石代理过外长)。1943年1月,美、英和中国签订条约废除在中国的治外法权及其他特权,其他西方各国亦随之效法。虽然此事发生在日军占领中国大部分地区的时候,但这些新条约的签订被重庆方面广泛地认为国民党的一个重要目的已经达到,治外法权的废除恰好发生在宋子文任外交部长期间,所以他格外受人称赞。1943年2月,宋子文再去华盛顿会见了罗斯福总统,3月,又会见了到华盛顿访问的英国外相安东尼•艾登。4月,一度去加拿大,7月飞往伦敦与英政府商谈战后计划。7月27日受英皇乔治六世的接见。8月,在魁北克参加了讨论缅甸战场的会谈。
1943年10月宋子文回国后,常接待和会见美国来华的官方人士,其中有1944年6月访华的副总统华莱士。1944年9月赫尔利将军和美国战时生产局长纳尔逊携特殊使命来华,赫尔利希望调解已启端倪的国共冲突。宋子文是国民党首领中强烈反对建立有共产党参加的联合政府的一人。
1944年12月,孔祥熙携命去美国,宋子文任代行政院长。1945年3月,宣布宋子文将率中国代表团去旧金山出席联合国国际组织会议。该会议于4月25日举行时,宋子文被选为四名主席之一。旧金山会议的中国代表团令人感兴趣的点是代表中有一名中国共产党的董必武,他是宋子文于1927年在武汉时认识的。宋子文在美国时会见了杜鲁门总统,商谈远东及战后中美合作的问题。
1945年5月31日宋子文被任命为行政院长,他于6月20日回到重庆,五天后就职,并保留外交部长之职。当时他的主要工作是商谈订立中苏友好条约,条约以雅尔塔会议美国保证俄国在中国东北的影响为基础,宋子文于6月30日到莫斯科,到7月12日之前,他多次会见了斯大林。会谈中断,宋子文回重庆,7月20日在国民参政会中报告莫斯科谈判经过,他强烈反对把外蒙古出让给苏联。7月30日,辞去外交部长职由王世杰继任。8月5日,宋子文由王世杰陪同去莫斯科,新的一轮谈判导致8月14日签订中苏友好同盟条约及其他有关协定,其中有关于承认外蒙古独立的内容。这个条约虽遭到激烈反对,但终由立法院批准。
当时太平洋战争已结束,日本溃败,苏联军队控制了满洲。1945年底,马歇尔将军抵华,着手在国共之间进行调解,宋子文常与马歇尔、蒋介石磋商。因国共双方猜疑很深,美国的调解不久失败,1946年夏,全面内战再次爆发。当时,国民党统治区域的经济迅速恶化,宋子文是全国最高经济委员会主席,他为支持摇摇欲坠的经济而被迫采取的紧急措施和限制办法很不得人心,未获成功。此外,对他个人的抨击也日见增加。1947年3月,他辞去行政院长职,但仍是国府委员。1947年9月,不顾监察院的反对,蒋介石任命他为广东省主席兼绥靖主任。1949年1月,蒋介石辞职,宋子文也辞去了广东的职务去美国,定居在纽约。他在中国共产党所开列的战犯名单中名列前茅。
宋子文在民国时代的中国政界,是一个不平常的人物。他那种西方人的办事方法,在国内不得人心。对他的作为,西方人远比国内人士更为了解和更加重视。由于他在哈佛受过教育,英语流利,善于与西方著名人士混在一起,国民党内和国民政府中不少人对之怀有疑虑。但是西方人士则认为他是中国在财政事务上头脑最灵敏的人。美国人尤其称赞他勤奋,工作效率高,又有胆量。宋子文由于宋氏家族关系在国内受到抨击,虽然他与蒋介石、孔祥熙的关系并不亲密,但总是同他们连在一起而成为抨击对象,特别为中国共产党痛斥他是寡廉鲜耻的“买办官僚资本家”,利用职权窃取私人财富。宋子文的财富到底有多少虽不得而知,但谣传他有大量私人财产,在他极盛肘期,他被人称为中国的摩根。他在中国财经开发公司和中国银行名义下,创办了很多企业,如中国棉业公司、华南大米出口公司、广州银行(在香港注册的私人银行)、扬子江电力公司等等。
1927年,宋子文和张乐怡结婚,张又名劳拉•张,有子女三人:劳雷特,玛丽•琼,凯塞林,都在美国成长上学。宋子文一共有九个孙儿女。