The Final Triumph of Chiang Kai-shek (Book Review of "The Generalissimo")

WaPo ^ | 4/26/2009 | Laura Tyson Li

[mojito]

Chiang Kai-shek ranks as one of the most despised leaders of the 20th century. Famously derided as "Peanut" and "General Cash-My-Check," the leader of China's Nationalist government bedeviled the Allied war effort in World War II with his lackluster defense of his country. His corrupt and brutal regime squandered billions of dollars in American aid and drove the Chinese into the arms of the communists. He died in exile a deluded despot, relegated to a footnote in modern Chinese history. Or so the conventional story goes.

Now, however, Jay Taylor's new biography, "The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China," challenges the catechism on which generations of Americans have been weaned. Marshaling archival materials made newly available to researchers, including about four decades' worth of Chiang's daily diaries and documents from the Soviet era, it torpedoes many of that catechism's cherished tenets. This is an important, controversial book.

[mojito]

Good review of what sounds to be an interesting new biography of Chiang Kai-shek that largely rehabilitates his reputation as a statesman and strategist.

[Sudetenland]

Despised by commie Liberals, he means. Most Americans revered him during his war with Mao.

[kenavi]

His diplomatic corps were capable Chinese patriots who manned embassies with little in resources.

[mojito]

From the review:

“...the Chiang-Soong clan and their supporters have long been convinced that they and Chiang’s government were the victims of a demonization campaign orchestrated by the international left starting in the early 1940s. By the 1970s, the American right had also largely abandoned Chiang’s cause in its zeal to win China's support in the U.S. confrontation with the Soviet Union.”

[Sudetenland]

Not this American Right-winger! I was and still am appalled at our virtual abandonment of Formosa/Taiwan in favor of the mass-murdering despots of Red China.

[Sudetenland]

"...in its zeal to win China's support in the U.S. confrontation with the Soviet Union.”

The enemy of my enemy may still be my enemy...as has been proven with Red China over and over again.

[mojito]

I think it would be more accurate to replace “American right” in the quote above with “Henry Kissinger.”

[MattinNJ]

I am a little ignorant about this subject. Didn’t Chiang Kai-shek have Mao on the ropes when FDR’s commie State Department sent Marshall to China to stop Chiang from finishing Mao off?

[RJL]

This is an important, controversial book.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...

This tells me all I need to know, it's a liberal revision of history.

[mojito]

He had Mao on the ropes several times. Marshall and Stillwell kept telling Chiang that he needed to do more to fight the Japanese, not the commies.

Uncle Joe managed to send Mao what he could, when he could, to keep his operation in business.

[iowamark]

Author reveals her bias:

The book does gloss over a few things -- Chiang's tolerance of corruption and his role, in concert with his wife, in the infamous China Lobby, which helped jumpstart the notorious McCarthy witch hunts.

[Cicero]

I thought that Chang Kai-Shek was a pretty good guy, a real patriot. Unfortunately, he was undermined by FDR and his good pal Uncle Joe Stalin, and then by Harry Truman, with Marshall acting as point man.

So, basically, the Commies who infested our government at that time threw China to Mao—and condemned unnumbered millions of Chinese to suffering and death, as well as destroying an ancient Chinese culture that had survived the Mongols and numerous other invaders over the centuries.

Whether China will ever recover from that disastrous betrayal remains a question. But it sure as hell wasn’t Chiang Kai-Shek’s fault.

[mojito]

From what I understand, the book is a refutation of the liberal interpretation of Chiang.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

The book does gloss over a few things -- Chiang's tolerance of corruption . . . [Maoists and their Western supporters denounced Chiang as] a "bandit" and a "running dog of the American imperialists."

Hmmm, corruption, bandits, and too much American [foreign] influence.. throw in horrendous human suffering from pollution, massive unemployment -- that's growing and growing, little or no social "safety net" (no more an iron rice bowl).. and what do you get?

Today's Red China. Ripe for revolution. Where's Mao when you really need him?

[SuperLuminal]

"Not this American Right-winger! I was and still am appalled at our virtual abandonment of Formosa/Taiwan in favor of the mass-murdering despots of Red China. "

Ditto!

[Fiji Hill]

By the 1970s, the American right had also largely abandoned Chiang’s cause in its zeal to win China's support in the U.S. confrontation with the Soviet Union

When Nixon brought two pandas back from Peking after visiting Mao, Rep. John G. Schmitz (R-Calif.) remarked that he didn't think the pandas were a fair exchange for Taiwan.

[Mr Rogers]

FDR’s communist friends in our government lost China. But of course, there WERE no communists in our government under FDR. Not in OUR history books!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Not buying this. Chiang’s army were looters of their own country. My dad got a belly-full of them in the CBI and often said it was no wonder the Reds were attractive to the common folk.

[arthurus]

Chiang’s new respectability in China mandates a respectful biography from an American leftist.

[tophat9000]

I thought that Chang Kai-Shek was a pretty good guy, a real patriot. Unfortunately, he was undermined by FDR and his good pal Uncle Joe Stalin, and then by Harry Truman, with Marshall acting as point man.

During the war Chang Kai-Shek and Claire Chennault (AVG "Flying Tigers" later 14th AF) were closed political allies... it was Vinegar Joe Stilwell always undermining Chang & Chennault to Washington and talking up Mao...