Chiang Kai-shek killed in Burma, 1942

"Still, the Japanese pressure on Burma forced the British to change their mind, and to accept Chinese troops. Despite his feelings about the country which had pioneered the imperialist penetration of his country, the Generalissimo sent 25,000 men, and flew with Meiling to Lashio in northern Burma to supervise their deployment, making a speech to his officers from the balcony of a missionary centre. While he took his afternoon nap, the telephone rang to warn that Japanese planes were on their way. But none of Chiang's English-speaking aides were around, and nobody at the other end of the line spoke Chinese. So the message did not get through, and the raiding aircraft were almost overhead when the Nationalist leader scrambled into a car to be driven to a safe shelter..." Jonathan Fenby, *Chiang Kai-shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost,* pp. 373-4.
https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&pg=PA374

Suppose Chiang was killed by a bomb before he could be driven to the shelter? With all his faults, his death would be a severe blow to Nationalist China; nobody else had his prestige, or his ability to hold together a faction-ridden KMT, retain the support--however grudging--of powerful warlords, and even be recognized (at least nominally) by the Chinese Communists as the leader of China. Still, some attempt would have to be made to hold Nationalist China together, and someone would have to be chosen as Chiang's successor as President. (There was no Vice-President of the Republic of China; the office had been abolished decades earlier and would only be revived in 1948, shortly before the Communist victory on the mainland.) The possibilities (we'll assume that none of his possible successors is killed in the bombing) may be divided into military and civilian:

(1) Military

(a) Chen Cheng. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Cheng One of the most honest and able of Chiang's generals. Of them all, he would probably be the best choice for President. (True, years later he didn't do so well fighting against the Communists in Manchuria, but the odds were pretty heavily against the Nationalists in that area, anyway.) In 1944, he was to replace He Yingqin as Minister of War. In 1949 he would become Governor of Taiwan, where he was to initiate a successful land reform program. From 1950 to 1954 and again from 1958 to 1963 Chen was Prime Minister of the Republic of China (which of course by that time was limited to Taiwan and some minor islands); from 1954 to 1965 he was vice-president of the republic. By that time, Chiang Kai-shek was determined to make his son Chiang Ching-kuo his successor, and while respecting Chen's abilities was worried that Chen might stand in Ching-kuo's way. But in 1942 of course it was way too early to think of Chiang Ching-kuo as president, and there seems every reason to think that Chen was considered Chiang's most likely successor.

For example, Fenby (p. 309) describes Chen in 1938 as "The man the generalissimo had designated as his successor." https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&pg=PA309 John Gunther in 1942 in *Inside Asia* (p. 281) wrote:

"General Chen Cheng is, I have mentioned, the leader of the Whampoa Officers group in the Kuomintang. He is also former military commander of the Hankow area, minister of political training in the National Military Council, and an ex-vice-minister of war. He combines very strong party affiliations with military strength, though he has no army of his own. He was born in 1900 and looks unbelievably youthful. The Generalissimo likes him extremely, and acted as personal go-between or matchmaker for his marriage; he was captured with Chiang at Sian. It is generally believed that he has been chosen by the Generalissimo to be his political successor. Most people in China would say that he was No. 2 to Chiang in a political sense, as Pai [Pai Chung-hsi or Bai Chongxi--see below] is No. 2 militarily." https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.275215/2015.275215.Inside-Asia#page/n299/mode/2up

The problem with Chen getting chosen is that as a reformer he had made enemies in the right wing of the KMT:

"He's [Minister of War He Yingqin's] group was often at loggerheads with younger generals who were less desk-bound, had stronger regional roots and were anxious to build up their own power bases. The War Minister was particularly at odds with the more reform-minded Shanghai and Wuhan defender, Chen Cheng, who married one of Chiang's wards. Even shorter than his rival but much slimmer, Chen was the regime's main conduit to semi-autonomous forces outside the Central Army, and enjoyed good relations with commanders like the successful Cantonese Xue Yue whom Chiang regarded with suspicion. Known to be disgusted by the corruption and apathy of the regime, Chen pushed reform in his base of southern Hubei province, associated himself with the liberal Third Party and had a working relationship with communist representatives in Chungking. This all made it inevitable that, as well as his rivalry with He, he became a *bete noire* for the repressive CC clique of the Chen brothers [Chen Lifu and Chen Guofu]." Fenby, p. 346. https://books.google.com/books?id=JGn_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA346

One thing that might help Chen overcome resistance from He and the KMT Right would be support from the US. According to Hannah Pakula, (*The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China*), Chen Cheng was "tough, loyal, and popular with Americans." http://books.google.com/books?id=4ZpVntUTZfkC&pg=PA590

Maybe Chen as President could get along better with Stilwell than Chiang did, although Stilwell would be a difficult partner for any Chinese leader...

(b) He Yingqin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Yingqin Long time Chief of Staff and Minister of War. A strong anti-Communist, he had urged at least temporary reconciliation with Japan in the mid-1930's. He would face strong opposition from Madame Chiang if he were to try to become President because she always thought that during the Xi'an Incident he wanted a military confrontation (bombing) which would have led to Chiang being killed (either by his captors or by the bombing itself) so that He Yingqin could become ruler of China.

(c) Li Zongren. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Zongren With Bai Chongxi, led "New Guangxi Clique" which sometimes cooperated with Chiang during the 1930's and sometimes rebelled against him. (He and Bai seem to have implicitly supported the "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang during the Xi'an Incident.) In 1948, he became vice-president of China (his election was considered a rebuke to Chiang) and in 1949 Acting President. By this time, the position of the Nationalists on the mainland was hopeless, of course, so it is hard to judge him by his failure at that time. He went to the US, denounced Chiang, and ultimately moved to the PRC.

(d) Bai Chongxi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Chongxi The "Muslim General." With Li Zongren, co-leader of the New Guangxi Clique. Often considered the best strategist in the Nationalist Army. Despite their past differences, he and Chiang had worked together closely since the beginning of the war with Japan. Anyway, the idea of China having a Muslim President is interesting, and would have certain advantages: it could help cement the loyalty of the Muslims of strategically important Xinjiang. Bai offered Chiang Kai-shek some good (and ignored) advice after World War II--e.g., to release the Young Marshal from house arrest and give him an important role in Manchuria, where he was very popular. (OTOH, Bai also thought that Chiang's "democratization" measures of 1946 were premature, and that "tutelage" should not end until the Communists were defeated.)

(e) Feng Yuxiang. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Yuxiang The "Christian General." (Contrary to popular legend, he did not do mass baptisms of his troops with fire hoses. Baptism was taken seriously, and not all his troops were baptized.) During the Xi'an Incident he had immediately called for Chiang's release, which might help him with Chiang's family and friends, though he had been an enemy of Chiang's at some times in the past (and was to become so again in the future).

(f) Yan Xishan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Xishan The "Model Governor" (this can be exaggerated; he did introduce some reforms but he was still a warlord) of Shanxi province. He probably did not have enough of a base to get elected; most (though not all) of Shanxi came under Japanese control. One interesting thing about him is that in 1945 after Japan's surrender, he tried to use Japanese forces against the Communists--an idea that Chiang rejected, saying it would play into the hands of CCP propaganda and outrage the Americans.

(2) Civilian--we'll start with some Soongs (Meiling, T.V.) and the husband (H.H. Kung) of another Soong (Ailing):

(a) Madame Chiang? Very popular in America, would provide "continuity," but she had plenty of enemies, and it is doubtful that China was ready for a woman president.

(b) T. V. Soong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._V._Soong He had been an able Minister of Finance in the early 1930's, but Chiang seems to have been jealous of him. T.V. resigned as Fiannce Minister in 1933, though he later resumed his position as head of the Central Bank of China. Later he became Foreign Minister. (He would be Premier in 1945-7). He was regarded by Chiang and many other Chinese as too "American" and never really cut as impressive a figure in China as he did in Washington. He did not always get along well with Ailing (he detested her husband, H. H. Kung, who had replaced him as Finance Minister in 1933) or Meiling. Interestingly, his favorite sister was Qingling--widow of Sun Yat-sen, and a well-known pro-Communist. (During the Xi'an Incident, when Kung tried to get his sister-in-law Qingling to sign a document denouncing the Young Marshal, she refused, saying "What Zhang Xueliang did was right. I would have done the same thing if I had been in his place. *Only I would have gone further!*" Eventually Qingling became vice-chairman of the PRC.) T. V.--who had once been associated with the left wing of the KMT--kept a photo of Qingling on his desk. (Chiang did not object.)

Like the other Soongs, T. V. was accused of corruption. According to Jay Taylor, "Some historians on Taiwan who have studied the issue believe that Soong probably did not accept bribes but did earn huge profits at certain points by having inside knowledge of the government's financial policies." *The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China*, p. 560. https://books.google.com/books?id=DUg2KGMQWHQC&pg=PA560

(In 1971, T.V. choked to death on a bone in a San Francisco restaurant. Meiling was on a flight to the US to attend her brother's funeral, when Chiang and his son ordered the plane to return. They had heard media reports that Qingling was also going to be there, and they worried that a meeting of the two sisters might fan speculation of a Beijing-Taipei deal. This probably upset Meiling, who would have been thrilled to meet her beloved sister once again, despite their political differences. Then Meiling learned that, contrary to the news reports, there was no indication that Qingling was seeking to visit the US for any purpose. Taylor, p. 559.)

(c) H. H. Kung. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Kung 75th generation descendent of Confucius (or so he claimed, in any event). Banker, Finance Minister and (briefly) Premier. Not exactly a great success as Finance Minister, given the runaway inflation. Once told an American reporter, "There is no inflation in China! If people want to pay twenty five dollars for a fountain pen, that's their business, it's not inflation. They're crazy, that's all. They shouldn't pay it." Many people saw him as corrupt and as dominated by his avaricious wife, Ailing Soong. (A popular saying about the three Soong sisters was that Ailing loved money, Meiling loved power, and Qingling loved China. An alternative view was that of Pearl Buck: "Madame Kung is the practical one of the three [sisters], Madame Sun the extreme idealist, Madame Chiang is both, and in this sense, the greatest of them all." http://books.google.com/books?id=4ZpVntUTZfkC&pg=PA315 )

(d) Sun Fo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Fo Superficially, had impressive credentials: son of Sun Yat-sen, leading figure in the liberal wing of the Kuomintang, President of the Legislative Yuan, and briefly Premier (in 1931-2 and 1948-9). OTOH, his 1931-2 government (after one of Chiang's periodic resignations) was hardly successful, and the British journalist Arthur Ransome once described him as being "like many sons of famous fathers, an undistinguished personality, although decidedly intelligent." He might make a good choice for figurehead president, but could hardly be anything more, given his lack of base in the military and the minority status of his sympathizers in the KMT.

(e) Chen Lifu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CC_Clique With his brother, Chen Guofu, leader of the traditionalist "CC Clique." He has gotten a bad press as a reactionary, but in fairness it has to be said that he was also an enemy of corruption. Basically his ideal was that of a KMT "purged" of both corruption and "foreign" liberal influences. In late 1945, he urged Chiang Kai-shek to reject the Marshall mission because if it failed, as it probably would, the Americans would blame the Chiang government and not the Communists. However powerful Chen Lifu was in the KMT I don't see him as President--he was not the face Nationalist China wanted to present to
the world.

All in all, Chen Cheng seems the most likely (and probably best) choice. But it is really hard to see how a Communist victory or at best a partition of China can be avoided. (Chiang was never interested in partition, which is one reason why he committed so many of his best troops to Manchuria--despite the Communists' tremendous advantages there--and why, once it fell, he hardly made any attempt to hold the line on the Yangtze or elsewhere.)
 
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