The Generalissimo

While holding to a dream of creating a modern state based on Confucian values, he shrewdly adopted the tactics of “compromise and playing for time.” A Confucian who had adopted Christianity, Chiang comes across in the end as a man who could be cold, ruthless, and domineering but also far-sighted, calculating, and statesmanlike.

Chiang secured military aid from Stalin in the early years of the war against Japan. He also nudged Roosevelt closer to a tough stance against Japan and, after Pearl Harbor, traveled to India, where he persuaded Mohandas Gandhi not to disrupt Britain’s war effort.

Taylor documents repeated failures by the United States to live up to its commitments to Chiang. Following Truman administration promises of aid, the first military supplies did not begin to arrive until November 1948, too late to play a role in the decisive battle for Manchuria.

The author takes a fresh look at Chiang’s dealings with Joseph Stillwell, the US Army general who served as Chiang’s chief of staff and top foreign adviser. Western journalists admired Stillwell for his bluntness, but according to Taylor’s account, “Vinegar Joe,” as he came to be known, oversimplified complex problems and underestimated Chiang Kai-shek.

In the early 1940s, Stillwell wrongly accused Chiang of failing to aggressively confront the Japanese while it was actually Mao Zedong who was preserving his forces while engaging in nothing more than a “political offensive” against the Japanese. At Stillwell’s urging, Chiang committed some of his best troops to a campaign against the Japanese in Burma that turned into a disaster.
Taylor shows how Chiang, while on Taiwan, used threats to invade the mainland in order to maintain morale and gain leverage with his American allies. By stirring uncertainty over his intentions, he gained concessions and commitments. In reality, he did not consider recovering the mainland as a viable option, at least not in his lifetime.

Taylor also reveals that Chiang came to loathe Richard Nixon as the American president made his opening to Beijing. But Chiang kept his thoughts mostly to himself.
“Generalissimo” is well-written, and takes on an epic quality as Taylor guides us through many turning points in modern Chinese history. He draws on new materials, but his greatest strength is the fairness of his approach.

Dan Southerland, executive editor of congressionally funded Radio Free Asia, is a former Asia correspondent for the Monitor and former Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post.

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