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The Final Triumph of Chiang Kai-shek (Book Review of "The Generalissimo")
WaPo ^
| 4/26/2009
| Laura Tyson Li
Posted on 05/05/2009 4:09:15 PM PDT by mojito
click here to read article
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To: tophat9000
That would certainly be news to those who were there.
To: Fiji Hill
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. Yep! Nixon began putting the finishing touches on a job started by Johnson & McNamara.
Then the history revisionists began their work in earnest with reenforcement and support from the Dept of Government Schools and the leftist-controlled teachers union.
By the time the 90's rolled around, the job was complete.
22
posted on
05/05/2009 6:14:25 PM PDT
by
SuperLuminal
(Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
To: mojito
Old Vinegar Joe Stillwell, was one of the best generals in WWII. He fought bravely against the Japs with hardly any supplies. His job was to beat the Japs. I do not blame Stillwell for this situation, he was just a soldier doing his job. I blame Roosevelt. Roosevelt was blind to the commie threat. Patton saw the writing on the wall, he knew that the war in Europe was not over with the defeat of the Germans. He told us to continue the fight against the commies. He warned us of what was to come and we are in trouble today because we did not heed his advise.
Chiang Kai-shek was caught between two enemies at the same time. Chiang could have defeated Mao, if he had help from the US. Unfortunately, The US did not take the commies seriously until it was to late.
To: Eric in the Ozarks
Chiang’s men were bad. The communists were worse. And Chiang DID have the ability to beat the Communists, except communist sympathizers in our government withheld aid...because Mao ‘cared more’ about the poor.
24
posted on
05/05/2009 6:30:42 PM PDT
by
Mr Rogers
(GOP - Night of the Moderate Dead)
To: mojito
For a TRULY great Chinese leader (albeit in the diaspora), may I suggest you look up Lee Kwan Yew sometime. Far superior to anyone associated with the KMTG.
25
posted on
05/05/2009 6:35:05 PM PDT
by
Clemenza
(Remember our Korean War Veterans)
To: tophat9000; Eric in the Ozarks
I believe that Stillwell was given orders from FDR to favor Mao. FDR was the guy who was doing the will of Stalin and cozying up to Mao.
Finally, FDR went too far, and Chang demanded that Stillwell withdraw from China. But Stillwell was only doing what FDR commanded him to do—the last straw being the demand that Chang should hand over all of his forces to Stillwell.
26
posted on
05/05/2009 6:40:58 PM PDT
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: Fiji Hill
Nixon didn't end recognition or abrogate the treaty with Taiwan, Carter did. And the US has not totally abandoned them yet. 30 years later, Taiwan is still free.
27
posted on
05/05/2009 6:50:45 PM PDT
by
iowamark
(certified by Michael Steele as "ugly and incendiary")
To: Mr Rogers
To understand how awful Chiang was in regard to his fellow Chinese on mainland China, consider the fate of the native Taiwanese after Chiang & his army arrived on the island in 1949. Taiwanese from that era say you could flip a coin as to who was worse, Chiang or the Imperial Japanese Army.
The Nationalists had given up the fight against Japan early on in the war and history records the officer corps' focus was almost completely on what they could steal, dismantle and carry off for their own account. Virtually every reference on the China-Burma-India Campaign makes mention of this. My dad was a Hump pilot and never had a good word to say about Chiang or his wife the Dragon Lady (if anyone remembers who financed her it was the United states congress.) Pointlessly, American money flushed through the Chiang family and made them royalty in Formosa. Very limited benefit came to the US as a result.
To: Eric in the Ozarks
My Dad met Chiang in the 60s. He had nothing good to say about him either - but Chiang didn’t kill millions of Taiwanese!
29
posted on
05/05/2009 7:00:23 PM PDT
by
Mr Rogers
(GOP - Night of the Moderate Dead)
To: Mr Rogers
That's true. He just took over a country that was not his or even the same race of Asiatics.
To: Eric in the Ozarks
He didn’t have a lot of other options, besides just dying.
31
posted on
05/05/2009 7:07:04 PM PDT
by
Mr Rogers
(GOP - Night of the Moderate Dead)
To: Mr Rogers
He was an old man, born in 1887. All the dollars from the United States couldn't keep him alive but our money did propel Madame Chiang around for a few more years, if you remember.
To: mojito
The left destroyed his reputation.
33
posted on
05/05/2009 7:18:26 PM PDT
by
aculeus
To: Eric in the Ozarks
34
posted on
05/05/2009 9:30:17 PM PDT
by
tophat9000
( We are "O" so f---ed)
To: mojito
This book is too fond of Chiang Kai-Shek. In my opinion, Chiang was mostly another terrible dictator in China's history , though much less terrible than his rival Mao. But the fact is both the course of Chiang and Mao's rising to power were manipulated by Soviet Union. Chiang once was just a warlord in south China, with and only with the providings of equipments and fundings from communist, he launched a war and successfully overthrowed the half-democratic government in that time and became the sovereign of China. Somehow later on, Soviet Union decided to abandon Chiang and raise another pet instead, which was the Chinese Communist Party.
Though Chiang made him an allie to US in WWII, but I don't think US like him very much. Because when he was on the edge of defeat in war against Mao, Truman's government refused to give him a hand, they just stood by an watched whole China turned red. Not like the similiar situation in Korean about 3 years later.
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