By the end of the decade, Johnson openly advocated material support for China. The Chinese had then established a measure of order and had demonstrated a will to resist Japan and he believed they deserved support. His descriptions of the events of the war and of the valiant fight of the Chinese were instrumental in the decision to grant assistance to them. For example, when on October 18 ,1940 Chiang-Kai-shek informed the U.S. that a major increase in military assistance would be required to continue to resist Japan and accordingly requested 500 planes, volunteer American volunteer pilots to fly them, and a large loan, Johnson strongly supported Chiang's request. Johnson said that by fulfilling Chiang's request the U.S. would "move beyond "flimsy aid" and "callous and dangerous disregard" for China's precarious situation. FDR rejected Chiang's full request. But recognizing that something had to be done fast he told Treasury Secretary Morgenthau that it was "a matter of life and death," and ordered Morgenthau and Under Secretary of State Welles to arrange a $100 million loan at once. Also, with FDR's full support Secretary of War Stimson and Chief of Staff Marshall diverted 100 pursuit planes from British orders and made them available for use in China, i.e., defending the Burma road.