Word: generalissimo
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...from the capital. Then at midweek, Chiang's body was carried along a 15-mile procession route past an estimated 500,000 people to the Sun Yatsen Memorial Hall in downtown Taipei. There, to the accompaniment of piped-in elegiac music, thousands walked past the open coffin. The Generalissimo's body was clothed in a black Chinese gown with the red sash of the republic's highest order across his chest; his face, thin and white, bore a slight smile and showed no sign of the heart and bladder disease that had made him an invalid...
Real Power. Few people in Taiwan expected Chiang's passing to have much effect on the country's future. Real power had already been given to the Generalissimo's eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo, 65, who became Premier three years ago (Vice President C.K. Yen, who succeeds Chiang Kai-shek as President, is expected to be little more than a figurehead). Chiang Ching-kuo is unlikely to change his father's adamant refusal to negotiate any land of political settlement with the Communists in Peking...
...when he was installed as head of the Nationalist government, the generalissimo's power and influence were at their crest. Even then, however, Chiang was continuously troubled by rebellious warlord generals, rival Communist governments and revolts within his own Kuomintang. When Japanese troops marched into Manchuria in 1931, the Nationalist army was already fully occupied with a series of vast, costly annihilation campaigns against the Communists' rural bases. Not until 1936 did Chiang agree to set aside the civil war and join the Communists in the fight against the Japanese invaders. His armies tied down huge numbers...
...combination of "brains, persuasiveness and moral force ... with wit and charm, a generous and understanding heart, a gracious and beautiful manner, and a burning conviction." Others resented her imperious will and her attempts to influence U.S. wartime strategy on Chiang's behalf. At that time the generalissimo wanted the U.S. to place less emphasis on the war against Germany and more on the fight against Japan; he sought more arms and supplies without convincing Stilwell and others that he would really take the offensive...
...generalissimo, in severely declining health, did not even appear in public during the final two years of his life. But until the end, Chiang held the title of President of the Republic of China, insisting that he was the sole legitimate ruler of the entire country. Even after Taiwan's expulsion from the U.N. in 1971, Chiang rejected all attempts at compromise. As long as he was alive, recovery of the mainland stood, in his words, as "the inalterable national purpose." As the world embarked on the quest for a new relationship with his enemy in Peking, Chiang never...