Mao Tse Tung

Mainly because of the many major strategic and tactical errors made by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Kuomintang movement. First, the Kuomintang fired many of its fighting soldiers after WW 2, making them easy recruits for the Communists. This was a major boost for the Communists, who despite later Propaganda to the contrary had never shown much military skill, and their wartime operations against the Japanese had remained so secret that even the Japanese themselves had never noticed anything.

Then, Chiang decided to withdraw his defence forces to the cities, leaving the whole countryside wide open to the Communists. Further, the Kuomintang made a total mess of China's economy and by doing so made the Chinese population receptive to an alternative approach by the Communists.

As to the American aid: so much of it was embezzled and misappropriated by the Kuomintang leadership that a full $ 750 million (6 billion dollar in today's money) never reached its intended destination. When the US for this reason stopped its aid, unpaid Kuomintang soldiers deserted in massive numbers to the Communists.

Atwater jokingly quoted Mao but never called him 'one of my favorite philosophers'. Lee just used a quote from Mao to provide an ironic point, much in the same way others use quotes from historic figures, both egregious & beneficent.


The above answer accurately implies that Anita Dunn quoted Mao to make an ironic point (her excuse and/or valid reasoning) since the reference to Lee Atwater was hers. Her quote was, "Two of my favorite political philosophers - Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa, not often coupled with each other but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is you're going to make choices."

Mao Zedong (Tse-tung) was born in Hunan, China in 1893

Surely, he does. But it seems that he doesn't like to brush his teeth very often. 'Cause he grew up in the rural area of China, in his childhood resources are limited and no one told him the importance of personal hygiene. He seldom use toothbrushes. In order to save time, he has his own simple method, finger plus towel can get things done.

Born: 26 December 1893 Birthplace: XiangTan, Hunan Province, China Died: 9 September 1976 (Natural causes) Best Known As: Head of the People's Republic of China, 1949-76 Mao Zedong (also Mao Tse-Tung) was the world's most prominent Chinese communist during the 20th century. Mao's Red Army overthrew Chiang Kai-Shek in 1949, and the communists seized power of mainland China. Ruthless and ambitious, Mao turned China into a world military power and created a cult of personality, forcing the distribution of his image and his "Little Red Book" (a collection of political maxims) upon the Chinese people. His campaign to export communism made China a threat to the West and led to confrontations in Southeast Asia and Korea. Under Mao's rule China endured a series of economic disasters and political terrorism, but for more than 25 years Mao was China, as far as the rest of the world was concerned. After his death, leaders like Deng Xiaoping steered the country away from pure communism, and the Cult of Mao began to disappear. These days Mao is ranked among the worst of 20th century dictators. alongside Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler.

Mao Zedong was a communist revolutionary and the founder of the People's Republic of China. He was the first chairman of Republic.