On March 26, 1948, during the National Congress held the National Assembly for president, Chiang Ching-kuo suddenly wrote a letter to his father, Chiang Kai-shek, opposing his appointment as president, believing that he should "resign humbly and retire as the President" is the most suitable.
There are three reasons: First, the war has not ended yet, and this move is enough to express the spirit of responsibility for national politics. Second, after Chiang Kai-shek was successfully elected president, he was then given to respected veterans to show Chiang Kai-shek's humility. Third, disputes between the Fifth Courts in the early stages of the Constitution can be avoided.
The reason why Chiang Ching-kuo wrote a letter to persuade his father in this tactful way was because he could not say it too straightforwardly. After Chiang Kai-shek provoked the civil war, the Kuomintang army was defeated on the battlefield, and the Kuomintang was seriously corrupt. With the combination of the two, led to economic deterioration and inflation in and other problems. Chiang Kai-shek had an unshirkable responsibility, how could he be embarrassed to be the president?
One is that Chiang Ching-kuo and his father Chiang Kai-shek were not very close at that time, especially during his study in the Soviet Union, Chiang Ching-kuo once published a letter to his mother Mao Fumei in a newspaper, in which he cursed Chiang Kai-shek, which made Chiang Kai-shek very angry.
Later, Jiang Jingguo said that the letter was not written by him, but was written by someone in his name and deceived him into agreeing to publish it.
However, whether it is, Chiang Kai-shek was very distant from his son at first. In 1937, after Chiang Ching-kuo brought his family back to China, Chiang Kai-shek was unwilling to see him for a while. Later, it was Chen Bulei and to persuade him to make peace. Chiang Kai-shek barely met with Chiang Ching-kuo and asked him to go back to his hometown in Xikou to think about his mistakes.
Although Chiang Ching-kuo had normalized his relationship with his father Chiang Kai-shek, he was not too close, and he did not dare to say whatever he wanted to say in a blunt way. He could only tactfully persuade his father Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Ching-kuo's move actually matched Chiang Kai-shek's appetite, because Chiang Kai-shek faced internal and external pressure at the time and his prestige was declining day by day. In addition, although the president was ranked as the "head of state", he was only a "vain position" and did not have much real power. Therefore, although Chiang Kai-shek also wanted to be president, he also planned to withdraw from the election and recommended that Hu Shi, a literati, be the president.
The reason for this is that Hu Shi is just a literati and does not have his own gang. Letting him stay in this empty position will not pose any threat to him.
And it can also allow Hu Shi to come forward and seek various assistance from the United States, which is the best of both worlds. At that time, if you become the Chief of Staff and actually control the army, you can be invincible.
Of course, Chiang Kai-shek was not willing to accept it and wanted to be the president. So on the one hand, he signaled Chen Lifu , Chen Bulei and others to demand the expansion of the president's power, which is naturally to prepare for himself to be the president.
On the one hand, Chiang Kai-shek also tested the tone of the Kuomintang veterans, such as when he went to find the "master" Wu Zhihui , and asked who is the most suitable to be the president?
Wu Zhihui said that the president was just a false position, and there was no need for Chiang Kai-shek to be, just give it to others.
Chiang Kai-shek might have wanted Hu Shi to be president at that time, or perhaps he could not say bluntly that he wanted to be president, so he could only nod and say yes.
result Chiang Kai-shek later changed his mind and wanted to be president. Although he expressed his intentions at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that he did not want to be president, Wu Zhihui thought he really didn't want to be president, and repeated his thoughts again. Luo Jialun believed that Wu dared to say this represents Chiang's intention and agreed.
But unexpectedly, others understood what Chiang Kai-shek meant and opposed it. As a result, the conference unanimously approved Chiang Kai-shek as the presidential candidate, and Chiang Kai-shek did not insist on improperly, which made him very embarrassed and felt that he had been fooled by Chiang Kai-shek.
At that time, Chiang Ching-kuo's letter opened up a new idea for Chiang Kai-shek. In the power framework of the Kuomintang, among the five courtyards, the Executive Yuan was the highest administrative agency at that time. Chiang Ching-kuo asked Chiang Kai-shek to be the president of the Executive Yuan and to be the president of the Executive Yuan. He had both real power and could reconcile the relationship between the five courtyards, so that Chiang Kai-shek could still hold great power.
So Chiang Kai-shek felt that if Hu Shi was the president, he would not have to be the chief of staff, but he could be the chief executive. He could control all the administrative power, including military power, so why not do it?
So on April 4, which is the Central Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference that Wu Zhihui thought he was fooled, Chiang Kai-shek expressed his opinion that he would not run for president, and tailored several requirements for Hu Shi about the candidates, and he just wanted to say it directly.
However, he wanted to be humble and president before, and he signaled Chen Lifu, Chen Bulei and others to request the expansion of presidential power. These people naturally understood that if they expanded the presidential power, they must have prepared for Chiang himself, and Chiang still wanted to be president.
So except for Wu Zhihui and Luo Jialun who were kept in the dark, others opposed it. They all expressed their loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek passionately and said that they were obsessed with him and wanted to make him a presidential candidate. Chiang Kai-shek had the intention to be a president. Seeing that there were so many supporters, he pretended to refuse and asked to make plans for the next meeting.
Everyone discussed the meeting the next day and understood that Chiang Kai-shek was worried that the president was a false throne and had no real power. Among them, Zhang Qun is the most straightforward. It is said that Chiang Kai-shek does not want to be president, but the president is a false position. Of course he doesn't want to be a false position anymore. He should find a way to give this false position and real power, so Chiang Kai-shek is willing to be president.
so everyone discussed changing the provisions and expanding the presidential power, so Chiang Kai-shek naturally was willing to be a presidential candidate.
So they spoke to Chiang Kai-shek with Zhang Qun, Chen Bulei and Chen Lifu as representatives. When Chiang Kai-shek saw that everyone supported him so much, he no longer insisted on withdrawing from giving up with others. It was the previous proposal that he agreed to be a presidential candidate.
At the afternoon meeting, the formal determination of Chiang Kai-shek as president was equivalent to the appointment of Chiang Kai-shek as president and studying how to expand the president's power. Finally, Wang Shijie and others drafted "Provisional Treaty in the Period of Mobilization to Suppress Rebellion" , giving the president, that is, Chiang Kai-shek, "special authority for emergency response" .
Chiang Kai-shek struggled so hard, and at the same time, he became a presidential candidate with joy, making the "National Congress" his one-man show. Before the show was finished, he had already decided who the protagonist was.
Chiang Kai-shek might have really had the idea of withdrawing from the election and letting the literati Hu Shi become president. Maybe he just retreats to advance, avoids many people's opposition, and inspires those who support him to create momentum, but no matter what, it is enough to see that Chiang Kai-shek's desire for power is still very large.
Later, Chiang Ching-kuo once again advised his father Chiang Kai-shek not to be president. Just be president and give it to a respected person. It is a good thing to leave a reputation for humility.
But the president was expanded and no longer a "vain position". There were so many people who "must be him". Of course, Chiang Kai-shek didn't care about the reputation of humility, so he naturally did not listen to his son Chiang Ching-kuo's opinions.
After the Kuomintang retreated from Taiwan in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, who had a great desire for power, had previously stepped down and became the "acting president" and became the "president" again in an unreasonable way. Later, he was appointed as the "president" and was re-elected until he died of illness.
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