Name	Mao Zedong 毛泽东
Caption	Portrait of Mao Zedong as displayed at the Tiananmen Gate
Nationality	Chinese
Order	1st Chairman of the Communist Party of China
Deputy	Liu ShaoqiLin BiaoZhou EnlaiHua Guofeng
Term start	1943
Term end	1976
Predecessor	Zhang Wentian(As General Secretary)
Successor	Hua Guofeng
Birth date	December 26, 1893
Birth place	Shaoshan, Hunan, China
Death date	September 09, 1976
Death place	Beijing, People's Republic of China
Spouse	Luo Yixiu (1907–1910) Yang Kaihui (1920–1930) He Zizhen (1930–1937) Jiang Qing (1939–1976)
Signature	Mao Zedong Signature.svg
Party	Communist Party of China
Order2	1st Chairman of the People's Republic of China
Premier2	Zhou Enlai
Deputy2	Zhu De
Term start2	September 27, 1954
Term end2	April 1959
Predecessor2	Position Created
Successor2	Liu Shaoqi
Order3	1st Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission
Term start3	1954
Term end3	1976
Predecessor3	Position Created
Successor3	Hua Guofeng
Order4	1st Chairman of the CPPCC
Term start4	October 1, 1949
Term end4	December 25, 1954
Predecessor4	Position Created
Successor4	Zhou Enlai
Term5	December 25, 1954 – September 9, 1976 (honorary)

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung (26 December 1893 9 September 1976), was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism-Leninism, military strategies, and his brand of Communist policies are now collectively known as Maoism.

Mao remains a controversial figure to this day, with a contentious and ever-evolving legacy that is subject to fierce debate. He is officially held in high regard in China as a great revolutionary, political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Many Chinese also believe that through his policies, he laid the economic, technological and cultural foundations of modern China, transforming the country from an agrarian society into a major world power. Additionally, Mao is viewed as a poet, philosopher, and visionary, owing the latter primarily to the cult of personality fostered during his time in power. Mao's portrait continues to be featured prominently on Tiananmen and on all Renminbi bills.

Conversely, Mao's social-political programs, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, are blamed for costing millions of lives, causing severe famine and damage to the culture, society and economy of China. Mao's policies and political purges from 1949 to 1976 are widely believed to have caused the deaths of between 40 to 70 million people. Since Deng Xiaoping assumed power in 1978, many Maoist policies have been abandoned in favour of economic reforms.

Mao is regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern world history, and named by Time Magazine as one of the people of the 20th century.

Early life

Mao was born on December 26, 1893, in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China. His father was a poor peasant who had become a wealthy farmer and grain dealer. At age 8 he began studying at the village primary school, but left school at 13 to work on the family farm. He later left the farm to continue his studies at a secondary school in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. When the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing Dynasty broke out in 1911 he joined the Revolutionary Army in Hunan. In the spring of 1912 the war ended, the Republic of China was founded and Mao left the army. He eventually returned to school, and in 1918 graduated from the First Provincial Normal School of Hunan.

Following his graduation, it is believed that Mao traveled with Professor Yang Changji, his college teacher and future father-in-law, to Beijing in 1919. Prior to his death in 1920, Professor Yang held a faculty position at Peking University, and at his recommendation, Mao worked as an assistant librarian at the University Library under the curatorship of Li Dazhao, who would come to greatly influence Mao's future thought. Mao registered as a part-time student at Beijing University and attended a few lectures and seminars by intellectuals, such as Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, and Qian Xuantong. During his stay in Shanghai, he engaged himself as much as possible in reading which introduced him to Communist theories.

He married Yang Kaihui, Professor Yang's daughter and a fellow student, despite an existing marriage with Luo Yixiu arranged by his father at home, which Mao never acknowledged. In October 1930, the Kuomintang (KMT) captured Yang Kaihui as well as her son, Anying. The KMT imprisoned them both, and Anying was later sent to his relatives after the KMT killed his mother. At this time, Mao was living with He Zizhen, a co-worker and 17 year old girl from Yongxing, Jiangxi. Likely due to poor language skills (Mao never learned to speak Mandarin, having lived in a Xiang-speaking community), he turned down an opportunity to study in France.

On July 23, 1921, Mao, age 27, attended the first session of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. Two years later, he was elected as one of the five commissars of the Central Committee of the Party during the third Congress session. Later that year, Mao returned to Hunan at the instruction of the CPC Central Committee and the Kuomintang Central Committee to organize the Hunan branch of the Kuomintang. In 1924, he was a delegate to the first National Conference of the Kuomintang, where he was elected an Alternate Executive of the Central Committee. In 1924, he became an Executive of the Shanghai branch of the Kuomintang and Secretary of the Organization Department.

For a while, Mao remained in Shanghai, an important city that the CPC emphasized for the Revolution. However, the Party encountered major difficulties organizing labor union movements and building a relationship with its nationalist ally, the KMT. The Party had become poor, and Mao became disillusioned with the revolution and moved back to Shaoshan. During his stay at home, Mao's interest in the revolution was rekindled after hearing of the 1925 uprisings in Shanghai and Guangzhou. His political ambitions returned, and he then went to Guangdong, the base of the Kuomintang, to take part in the preparations for the second session of the National Congress of Kuomintang. In October 1925, Mao became acting Propaganda Director of the Kuomintang.

In early 1927, Mao returned to Hunan where, in an urgent meeting held by the Communist Party, he made a report based on his investigations of the peasant uprisings in the wake of the Northern Expedition. His "Report on the Peasant Movement in Hunan" is considered the initial and decisive step towards the successful application of Mao's revolutionary theories.

Political ideas

After graduating from Hunan Normal School, the highest level of schooling available in his province, Mao spent six months studying independently. Mao was first introduced to communism while working at Peking University, and in 1921 he attended the organizational meeting of the Communist Party of China (or CPC). He first encountered Marxism while he worked as a library assistant at Peking University.

Other important influences on Mao were the Russian revolution and, according to some scholars, the Chinese literary works: Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Mao sought to subvert the alliance of imperialism and feudalism in China. He thought the KMT to be both economically and politically vulnerable and thus that the revolution could not be steered by Nationalists.

Throughout the 1920s, Mao led several labour struggles based upon his studies of the propagation and organization of the contemporary labour movements. However, these struggles were successfully subdued by the government, and Mao fled from Changsha, Hunan after he was labeled a radical activist. He pondered these failures and finally realized that industrial workers were unable to lead the revolution because they made up only a small portion of China's population, and unarmed labour struggles could not resolve the problems of imperial and feudal suppression.

Mao began to depend on Chinese peasants who later became staunch supporters of his theory of violent revolution. This dependence on the rural rather than the urban proletariat to instigate violent revolution distinguished Mao from his predecessors and contemporaries. Mao himself was from a peasant family, and thus he cultivated his reputation among the farmers and peasants and introduced them to Marxism.

His two 1937 essays, 'On Contradiction' and 'On Practice', are concerned with the practical strategies of a revolutionary movement and stress the importance of practical, grass-roots knowledge, obtained through experience.

Both essays reflect the guerilla roots of Maoism in the need to build up support in the countryside against a Japanese occupying force and emphasise the need to win over hearts and minds through 'education'. The essays, excerpts of which appear in the 'Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong', warn against the behaviour of the blindfolded man trying to catch sparrows, and the 'Imperial envoy' descending from his carriage to 'spout opinions' .

War

In 1927, Mao conducted the famous Autumn Harvest Uprising in Changsha, as commander-in-chief. Mao led an army, called the "Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants", which was defeated and scattered after fierce battles. Afterwards, the exhausted troops were forced to leave Hunan for Sanwan, Jiangxi, where Mao re-organized the scattered soldiers, rearranging the military division into smaller regiments.

Mao also ordered that each company must have a party branch office with a commissar as its leader who would give political instructions based upon superior mandates. This military rearrangement in Sanwan, Jiangxi initiated the CPC's absolute control over its military force and has been considered to have the most fundamental and profound impact upon the Chinese revolution. Later, they moved to the Jinggang Mountains, Jiangxi.

In the Jinggang Mountains, Mao persuaded two local insurgent leaders to pledge their allegiance to him. There, Mao joined his army with that of Zhu De, creating the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, Red Army in short. Mao's tactics were strongly based on that of the Spanish Guerillas during the Napoleonic Wars.

From 1931 to 1934, Mao helped establish the Soviet Republic of China and was elected Chairman of this small republic in the mountainous areas in Jiangxi. Here, Mao was married to He Zizhen. His previous wife, Yang Kaihui, had been arrested and executed in 1930, just three years after their departure.

It was alleged that Mao orchestrated the Anti-Bolshevik League incident and the Futian incident.

In Jiangxi, Mao's authoritative domination, especially that of the military force, was challenged by the Jiangxi branch of the CPC and military officers. Mao's opponents, among whom the most prominent was Li Wenlin, the founder of the CPC's branch and Red Army in Jiangxi, were against Mao's land policies and proposals to reform the local party branch and army leadership. Mao reacted first by accusing the opponents of opportunism and kulakism and then set off a series of systematic suppressions of them.

Under the direction of Mao, it is reported that horrible methods of torture took place and given names such as 'sitting in a sedan chair', 'airplane ride', 'toad-drinking water', and 'monkey pulling reins.' perhaps as many as 186,000, were killed during this purge. Critics accuse Mao's authority in Jiangxi of being secured and reassured through the revolutionary terrorism, or red terrorism.

Mao, with the help of Zhu De, built a modest but effective army, undertook experiments in rural reform and government, and provided refuge for Communists fleeing the rightist purges in the cities. Mao's methods are normally referred to as Guerrilla warfare; but he himself made a distinction between guerrilla warfare (youji zhan) and Mobile Warfare (yundong zhan).

Mao's Guerrilla Warfare and Mobile Warfare was based upon the fact of the poor armament and military training of the Red Army which consisted mainly of impoverished peasants, who, however, were all encouraged by revolutionary passions and aspiring after a communist utopia.

Around 1930, there had been more than ten regions, usually entitled "soviet areas", under control of the CPC. The relative prosperity of "soviet areas" startled and worried Chiang Kai-shek, chairman of the Kuomintang government, who waged five waves of besieging campaigns against the "central soviet area." More than one million Kuomintang soldiers were involved in these five campaigns, four of which were defeated by the Red Army led by Mao. By June 1932 (the height of its power), the Red Army had no less than 45,000 soldiers, with a further 200,000 local militia acting as a subsidiary force.

Under increasing pressure from the KMT encirclement campaigns, there was a struggle for power within the Communist leadership. Mao was removed from his important positions and replaced by individuals (including Zhou Enlai) who appeared loyal to the orthodox line advocated by Moscow and represented within the CPC by a group known as the 28 Bolsheviks.

Chiang, who had earlier assumed nominal control of China due in part to the Northern Expedition, was determined to eliminate the Communists. By October 1934, he had them surrounded, prompting them to engage in the "Long March", a retreat from Jiangxi in the southeast to Shaanxi in the northwest of China. It was during this 9,600 kilometer (5,965 mile), year-long journey that Mao emerged as the top Communist leader, aided by the Zunyi Conference and the defection of Zhou Enlai to Mao's side. At this Conference, Mao entered the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China.

According to the standard Chinese Communist Party line, from his base in Yan'an, Mao led the Communist resistance against the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). However, Mao further consolidated power over the Communist Party in 1942 by launching the Shu Fan movement, or "Rectification" campaign against rival CPC members such as Wang Ming, Wang Shiwei, and Ding Ling. Also while in Yan'an, Mao divorced He Zizhen and married the actress Lan Ping, who would become known as Jiang Qing.

During the Sino-Japanese War, Mao Zedong's military strategies, laid out in On Guerrilla Warfare were opposed by both Chiang Kai-shek and the United States. The US regarded Chiang as an important ally, able to help shorten the war by engaging the Japanese occupiers in China. Chiang, in contrast, sought to build the ROC army for the certain conflict with Mao's communist forces after the end of World War II. This fact was not understood well in the US, and precious lend-lease armaments continued to be allocated to the Kuomintang.

In turn, Mao spent part of the war (as to whether it was most or only a little is disputed) fighting the Kuomintang for control of certain parts of China. Both the Communists and Nationalists have been criticised for fighting amongst themselves rather than allying against the Japanese Imperial Army. Some argue, however, that the Nationalists were better equipped and fought more against Japan.

In 1944, the Americans sent a special diplomatic envoy, called the Dixie Mission, to the Communist Party of China. According to Edwin Moise, in Modern China: A History 2nd Edition:

: Most of the Americans were favorably impressed. The CPC seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the KMT. United States fliers shot down over North China...confirmed to their superiors that the CPC was both strong and popular over a broad area. In the end, the contacts with the USA developed with the CPC led to very little.

and Mao Zedong in Yan'an]]

After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued to support Chiang Kai-shek, now openly against the People's Liberation Army led by Mao Zedong in the civil war for control of China. The U.S. support was part of its view to contain and defeat world communism. Likewise, the Soviet Union gave quasi-covert support to Mao (acting as a concerned neighbor more than a military ally, to avoid open conflict with the U.S.) and gave large supplies of arms to the Communist Party of China, although newer Chinese records indicate the Soviet "supplies" were not as large as previously believed, and consistently fell short of the promised amount of aid.

In 1948, the People’s Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying the city of Changchun. At least 160,000 civilians are believed to have perished during the siege, which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, who documented the siege in his book White Snow, Red Blood, compared it to Hiroshima: “The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months.”

On January 21, 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered massive losses against Mao's forces. In the early morning of December 10, 1949, PLA troops laid siege to Chengdu, the last KMT-occupied city in mainland China, and Chiang Kai-shek evacuated from the mainland to Taiwan (Formosa) that same day.

Leadership of China

and Mao depicted on a Chinese postage stamp|left|thumb]] The People's Republic of China was established on October 1, 1949. It was the culmination of over two decades of civil and international war. From 1954 to 1959, Mao was the Chairman of the PRC. During this period, Mao was called Chairman Mao () or the Great Leader Chairman Mao ().

The Communist Party assumed control of all media in the country and used it to promote the image of Mao and the Party. The Nationalists under General Chiang Kai-Shek were vilified as were countries such as the United States of America and Japan. The Chinese people were exhorted to devote themselves to build and strengthen their country through Communist ideology. In his speech declaring the foundation of the PRC, Mao is famously said to have announced: "The Chinese people have stood up" (though whether he actually said it is disputed).

Mao took up residence in Zhongnanhai, a compound next to the Forbidden City in Beijing, and there he ordered the construction of an indoor swimming pool and other buildings. Mao often did his work either in bed or by the side of the pool, preferring not to wear formal clothes unless absolutely necessary, according to Dr. Li Zhisui, his personal physician. (Li's book, The Private Life of Chairman Mao, is regarded as controversial, especially by those sympathetic to Mao.)

In October 1950, Mao made the decision to send the People's Volunteer Army into Korea and fought against the United Nations forces led by the U.S. Historical records showed that Mao directed the PVA campaigns in the Korean War to the minute details.

Along with Land reform, during which significant numbers of landlords were beaten to death at mass meetings organized by the Communist Party as land was taken from them and given to poorer peasants, there was also the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, which involved public executions targeting mainly former Kuomintang officials, businessmen accused of "disturbing" the market, former employees of Western companies and intellectuals whose loyalty was suspect. The U.S. State department in 1976 estimated that there may have been a million killed in the land reform, 800,000 killed in the counterrevolutionary campaign.

Mao himself claimed that a total of 700,000 people were executed during the years 1949–53. However, because there was a policy to select "at least one landlord, and usually several, in virtually every village for public execution", the number of deaths range between 2 million and 5 million. In addition, at least 1.5 million people, perhaps as many as 4 to 6 million, were sent to "reform through labour" camps where many perished. which were often exceeded.

Muslim General Ma Bufang announced the start of the Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (1950–1958), in January 9, 1950, when he was in Cairo, Egypt saying that Chinese Muslims would never surrender to Communism and would fight a guerilla war against the Communists. In 1951, Bai Chongxi made a speech to the entire Muslim world calling for a war against Russia, and Bai also called upon Muslims to avoid the Indian leader Nehru, accusing him of being blind to Soviet imperialism. Bai also called Stalin an ogre and claimed he and Mao were engineering World War Three. Ma Yuanxiang was another Chinese Muslim General related to the Ma family. Ma Yuanxiang and Ma Liang wrecked havoc on the Communist forces. In 1953, Mao was compelled to take radical action against them.

Starting in 1951, Mao initiated two successive movements in an effort to rid urban areas of corruption by targeting wealthy capitalists and political opponents, known as the three-anti/five-anti campaigns. A climate of raw terror developed as workers denounced their bosses, wives turned on their husbands, and children informed on their parents; the victims often being humiliated at struggle sessions, a method designed to intimidate and terrify people to the maximum. Mao insisted that minor offenders be criticized and reformed or sent to labor camps, "while the worst among them should be shot." These campaigns took several hundred thousand additional lives, the vast majority via suicide.

In Shanghai, people jumping to their deaths became so commonplace that residents avoided walking on the pavement near skyscrapers for fear that suicides might land on them. Some biographers have pointed out that driving those perceived as enemies to suicide was a common tactic during the Mao-era. For example, in his biography of Mao, Philip Short notes that in the Yan'an Rectification Movement, Mao gave explicit instructions that "no cadre is to be killed," but in practice allowed security chief Kang Sheng to drive opponents to suicide and that "this pattern was repeated throughout his leadership of the People's Republic."

Following the consolidation of power, Mao launched the First Five-Year Plan (1953–58). The plan aimed to end Chinese dependence upon agriculture in order to become a world power. With the Soviet Union's assistance, new industrial plants were built and agricultural production eventually fell to a point where industry was beginning to produce enough capital that China no longer needed the USSR's support. The success of the First Five Year Plan was to encourage Mao to instigate the Second Five Year Plan, the Great Leap Forward, in 1958. Mao also launched a phase of rapid collectivization. The CPC introduced price controls as well as a Chinese character simplification aimed at increasing literacy. Large scale industrialization projects were also undertaken.

Programs pursued during this time include the Hundred Flowers Campaign, in which Mao indicated his supposed willingness to consider different opinions about how China should be governed. Given the freedom to express themselves, liberal and intellectual Chinese began opposing the Communist Party and questioning its leadership. This was initially tolerated and encouraged. After a few months, Mao's government reversed its policy and persecuted those, totalling perhaps 500,000, who criticized, as well as those who were merely alleged to have criticized, the Party in what is called the Anti-Rightist Movement. Authors such as Jung Chang have alleged that the Hundred Flowers Campaign was merely a ruse to root out "dangerous" thinking.

Others such as Dr Li Zhisui have suggested that Mao had initially seen the policy as a way of weakening those within his party who opposed him, but was surprised by the extent of criticism and the fact that it began to be directed at his own leadership. It was only then that he used it as a method of identifying and subsequently persecuting those critical of his government. The Hundred Flowers movement led to the condemnation, silencing, and death of many citizens, also linked to Mao's Anti-Rightist Movement, with death tolls possibly in the millions.

Great Leap Forward

In January 1958, Mao Zedong launched the second Five-Year Plan known as the Great Leap Forward, a plan intended as an alternative model for economic growth to the Soviet model focusing on heavy industry that was advocated by others in the party. Under this economic program, the relatively small agricultural collectives which had been formed to date were rapidly merged into far larger people's communes, and many of the peasants ordered to work on massive infrastructure projects and the small-scale production of iron and steel. Some private food production was banned; livestock and farm implements were brought under collective ownership.

Under the Great Leap Forward, Mao and other party leaders ordered the implementation of a variety of unproven and unscientific new agricultural techniques by the new communes. Combined with the diversion of labor to steel production and infrastructure projects and the reduced personal incentives under a commune system this led to an approximately 15% drop in grain production in 1959 followed by further 10% reduction in 1960 and no recovery in 1961 (Spence, 553).

In an effort to win favor with their superiors and avoid being purged, each layer in the party hierarchy exaggerated the amount of grain produced under them and based on the fabricated success, party cadres were ordered to requisition a disproportionately high amount of the true harvest for state use primarily in the cities and urban areas but also for export. The net result, which was compounded in some areas by drought and in others by floods, was that the rural peasants were not left enough to eat and many millions starved to death in the largest famine in human history. This famine was a direct cause of the death of some 30 millions of Chinese peasants between 1959 and 1962 and about the same number of births were lost or postponed. Further, many children who became emaciated and malnourished during years of hardship and struggle for survival, died shortly after the Great Leap Forward came to an end in 1962 (Spence, 553).

The extent of Mao's knowledge as to the severity of the situation has been disputed. According to some, most notably Dr. Li Zhisui, Mao was not aware of anything more than a mild food and general supply shortage until late 1959.

"But I do not think that when he spoke on July 2, 1959, he knew how bad the disaster had become, and he believed the party was doing everything it could to manage the situation"

Hong Kong based historian Frank Dikötter, who has sifted through well over a thousand documents in recently opened Chinese local and regional party archives, challenges the notion that Mao didn't know about the famine until it was too late:

"The idea that the state mistakenly took too much grain from the countryside because it assumed that the harvest was much larger than it was is largely a myth – at most partially true for the autumn of 1958 only. In most cases the party knew very well that it was starving its own people to death. At a secret meeting in the Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai dated 25 March 1959, Mao specifically ordered the party to procure up to one third of all the grain, much more than had ever been the case. At the meeting he announced that "When there is not enough to eat people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill.""

In Hungry Ghosts, Jasper Becker notes that Mao was dismissive of reports he received of food shortages in the countryside and refused to change course, believing that peasants were lying and that rightists and kulaks were hoarding grain. He refused to open state granaries, and instead launched a series of "anti-grain concealment" drives that resulted in numerous purges and suicides. Other violent campaigns followed in which party leaders went from village to village in search of hidden food reserves, and not only grain, as Mao issued quotas for pigs, chickens, ducks and eggs. Many peasants accused of hiding food were tortured and beaten to death.

Whatever the case, the Great Leap Forward led to millions of deaths in China. Mao lost esteem among many of the top party cadres and was eventually forced to abandon the policy in 1962, also losing some political power to moderate leaders, notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. However, Mao and national propaganda claimed that he was only partly to blame. As a result, he was able to remain Chairman of the Communist Party, with the Presidency transferred to Liu Shaoqi.

The Great Leap Forward was a disaster for China. Although the steel quotas were officially reached, almost all of it made in the countryside was useless lumps of iron, as it had been made from assorted scrap metal in home made furnaces with no reliable source of fuel such as coal. According to Zhang Rongmei, a geometry teacher in rural Shanghai during the Great Leap Forward:

"We took all the furniture, pots, and pans we had in our house, and all our neighbors did likewise. We put all everything in a big fire and melted down all the metal."

Moreover, most of the dams, canals and other infrastructure projects, which millions of peasants and prisoners had been forced to toil on and in many cases die for, proved useless as they had been built without the input of trained engineers, whom Mao had rejected on ideological grounds.

The worst of the famine was steered towards enemies of the state, much like during the 1932–33 famine in the USSR. As Jasper Becker explains:

"The most vulnerable section of China's population, around five per cent, were those whom Mao called 'enemies of the people'. Anyone who had in previous campaigns of repression been labeled a 'black element' was given the lowest priority in the allocation of food. Landlords, rich peasants, former members of the nationalist regime, religious leaders, rightists, counter-revolutionaries and the families of such individuals died in the greatest numbers."

and Zhou Enlai; Beijing, 1972.]]

At the Lushan Conference in July/August 1959, several leaders expressed concern that the Great Leap Forward was not as successful as planned. The most direct of these was Minister of Defence and Korean War General Peng Dehuai. Mao, fearing loss of his position, orchestrated a purge of Peng and his supporters, stifling criticism of the Great Leap policies. Senior officials who reported the truth of the famine to Mao were branded as "right opportunists." A campaign against right opportunism was launched and resulted in party members and ordinary peasants being sent to camps where many would subsequently die in the famine. Years later the CPC would conclude that 6 million people were wrongly punished in the campaign.

There is a great deal of controversy over the number of deaths by starvation during the Great Leap Forward. Until the mid 1980s, when official census figures were finally published by the Chinese Government, little was known about the scale of the disaster in the Chinese countryside, as the handful of Western observers allowed access during this time had been restricted to model villages where they were deceived into believing that Great Leap Forward had been a great success. There was also an assumption that the flow of individual reports of starvation that had been reaching the West, primarily through Hong Kong and Taiwan, must be localized or exaggerated as China was continuing to claim record harvests and was a net exporter of grain through the period. Because Mao wanted to pay back early to the Soviets debts totaling 1.973 billion yuan from 1960 to 1962, Yang Jisheng, a former Xinhua News Agency reporter who had privileged access and connections available to no other scholars, estimates a death toll of 36 million. Frank Dikötter estimates that there were at least 45 million premature deaths attributable to the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1962. Various other sources have put the figure between 20 and 46 million. The overwhelming majority of delegates expressed agreement, but Defense Minister Lin Biao staunchly defended Mao.

There are political aspects to this period as well. Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping's prominence gradually became more powerful. Liu and Deng, then the State Chairman and General Secretary, respectively, had favored the idea that Mao should be removed from actual power but maintain his ceremonial and symbolic role, with the party upholding all of his positive contributions to the revolution. They attempted to marginalize Mao by taking control of economic policy and asserting themselves politically as well. Many claim that Mao responded to Liu and Deng's movements by launching the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Some scholars, such as Mobo Gao, claim the case for this is perhaps overstated. Others, such as Frank Dikötter, hold that Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to wreak revenge on those who had dared to challenge him over the Great Leap Forward.

Believing that certain liberal bourgeois elements of society continued to threaten the socialist framework, groups of young people known as the Red Guards struggled against authorities at all levels of society and even set up their own tribunals. Chaos reigned in many parts of the country, and millions were persecuted, including a famous philosopher, Chen Yuen. Mao is said to have ordered that no physical harm come to anyone, but that was not always the case. During the Cultural Revolution, the schools in China were closed and the young intellectuals living in cities were ordered to the countryside to be "re-educated" by the peasants, where they performed hard manual labor and other work.

The Revolution led to the destruction of much of China's traditional cultural heritage and the imprisonment of a huge number of Chinese citizens, as well as creating general economic and social chaos in the country. Millions of lives were ruined during this period, as the Cultural Revolution pierced into every part of Chinese life, depicted by such Chinese films as To Live, The Blue Kite and Farewell My Concubine. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, perished in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.

When Mao was informed of such losses, particularly that people had been driven to suicide, he is alleged to have commented: "People who try to commit suicide — don't attempt to save them! . . . China is such a populous nation, it is not as if we cannot do without a few people." The authorities allowed the Red Guards to abuse and kill opponents of the regime. Said Xie Fuzhi, national police chief: "Don't say it is wrong of them to beat up bad persons: if in anger they beat someone to death, then so be it." As a result, in August and September 1966, there were 1,772 people murdered in Beijing alone. during his visit to China in 1972]]

It was during this period that Mao chose Lin Biao, who seemed to echo all of Mao's ideas, to become his successor. Lin was later officially named as Mao's successor. By 1971, however, a divide between the two men became apparent. Official history in China states that Lin was planning a military coup or an assassination attempt on Mao. Lin Biao died in a plane crash over the air space of Mongolia, presumably in his way to flee China, probably anticipating his arrest. The CPC declared that Lin was planning to depose Mao, and posthumously expelled Lin from the party. At this time, Mao lost trust in many of the top CPC figures. The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa described his conversation with Nicolae Ceauşescu who told him about a plot to kill Mao Zedong with the help of Lin Biao organized by KGB.

In 1969, Mao declared the Cultural Revolution to be over, although the official history of the People's Republic of China marks the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 with Mao's death. In the last years of his life, Mao was faced with declining health due to either Parkinson's disease or, according to Li Zhisui, motor neurone disease, as well as lung ailments due to smoking and heart trouble. Some also attributed Mao's decline in health to the betrayal of Lin Biao. Mao remained passive as various factions within the Communist Party mobilized for the power struggle anticipated after his death.

This period is often looked at in official circles in China and in the west as a great stagnation or even of reversal for China. While many — an estimated 100 million — did suffer, some scholars, such as Lee Feigon and Mobo Gao, claim there were many great advances, and in some sectors the Chinese economy continued to outperform the west. They actually go so far as to conclude that the Cultural Revolution period actually laid the foundation for the spectacular growth that continues in China. During the Cultural Revolution, China exploded its first H-Bomb (1967), launched the Dong Fang Hong satellite (January 30, 1970), commissioned its first nuclear submarines and made various advances in science and technology. Health care was free, and living standards in the country side continued to improve.

Legacy

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As anticipated after Mao’s death, there was a power struggle for control of China. On one side was the left wing led by the Gang of Four, who wanted to continue the policy of revolutionary mass mobilization. On the other side was the right wing opposing these policies. Among the latter group, the restorationists, led by Chairman Hua Guofeng, advocated a return to central planning along the Soviet model, whereas the reformers, led by Deng Xiaoping, wanted to overhaul the Chinese economy based on market-oriented policies and to de-emphasize the role of Maoist ideology in determining economic and political policy. Eventually, the reformers won control of the government. Deng Xiaoping, with clear seniority over Hua Guofeng, defeated Hua in a bloodless power struggle a few years later.

The Chinese government officially regards Mao as a national hero. In 2008, China opened the Mao Zedong Square to visitors in his hometown of central Hunan Province to mark the 115th anniversary of his birth.

There continue to be disagreements on Mao's legacy. Some historians claim that Mao Zedong was a dictator comparable to Hitler and Stalin, with a death toll surpassing both. In The Black Book of Communism, Jean Louis Margolin writes that "Mao Zedong was so powerful that he was often known as the Red Emperor . . . the violence he erected into a whole system far exceeds any national tradition of violence that we might find in China." Mao was also frequently compared to China's First Emperor Qin Shi Huang, notorious for burying alive hundreds of scholars, and liked the comparison. During a speech to party cadre in 1958, Mao said he had far outdone Qin Shi Huang in his policy against intellectuals: "He buried 460 scholars alive; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive.... You [intellectuals] revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs. You are wrong. We have surpassed Qin Shi Huang a hundredfold."

Mao's English interpreter Sidney Rittenberg wrote in his memoir The Man Who Stayed Behind that he believes Mao never intended to cause the deaths and suffering endured by people under his chairmanship. In his remarks on the matter Rittenberg has declared that Mao "was a great leader in history, and also a great criminal because, not that he wanted to, not that he intended to, but in fact, his wild fantasies led to the deaths of tens of millions of people." Biographer Jung Chang goes further still and argues that Mao was well aware that his policies would be responsible for the deaths of millions. While discussing labor-intensive projects such as waterworks and making steel, Chang claims Mao said to his inner circle in November 1958: "Working like this, with all these projects, half of China may well have to die. If not half, one-third, or one-tenth - 50 million - die." Thomas Bernstein of Columbia University argues that this quotation is taken out of context, claiming:

The Chinese original, however, is not quite as shocking. In the speech, Mao talks about massive earthmoving irrigation projects and numerous big industrial ones, all requiring huge numbers of people. If the projects, he said, are all undertaken simultaneously “half of China’s population unquestionably will die; and if it’s not half, it’ll be a third or I0 per cent, a death toll of 50 million people.” Mao then pointed to the example of Guangxi provincial Party secretary, Chen Manyuan (陈漫远) who had been dismissed in 1957 for failing to prevent famine in the previous year, adding: “If with a death toll of 50 million you didn’t lose your jobs, I at least should lose mine; whether I should lose my head would also be in question. Anhui wants to do so much, which is quite all right, but make it a principle to have no deaths.”

Chang and Halliday take literally Mao’s penchant for talking about mass death in highly irresponsible, provocative, callous and reckless ways, exemplified by his famous remark that in a nuclear war, half of China’s population would perish but the rest would survive and rebuild. In 1958, when ruminating about the dialectios of life and death, he thought that deaths were beneficial, for without them, there could be no renewal. Imagine, he asked, what a disaster it would be if Confucius were still alive. “When people die there ought to be celebrations.” In December 1958 he remarked that “destruction (miewang 灭亡, also to dying out) [of people] has advantages. One can make fertilizer. You say you can’t, but actually you can, but you must be spiritually prepared.” As the authors rightly note, these kinds of remarks could well have justified the indifference of lower-level cadres to peasant deaths."

The accusation that Mao deliberately exposed China’s peasants to mass death during the GLF is not, however, plausible. It is true that, in his zeal to advance, he was willing to inflict severe, sometimes extraordinary hardships on peasants. But large-scale famine threatened a core claim to legitimacy of the regime. Implicit in the communist “liberation” was the promise that China’s history of famine was a thing of the past. Thus, when Mao finally began to grasp the scope of the 1960 famine, he strongly supported corrective measures. On a more practical level, Mao was acutely sensitive to the absolute necessity of preserving the peasants’ “enthusiasm for production,” meaning that at a minimum their subsistence needs had to be met.

In sum, understanding Mao's complex and contradictory motives is a daunting undertaking.

He concludes, however, that "[Mao's] wilful abdication of his duty as the country's undisputed leader makes his directly responsible for the immense catastrophe that ensued."

Jasper Becker and Frank Dikötter reach a different conclusion on the basis of new evidence. Becker notes that "archive material gathered by Dikötter... confirms that far from being ignorant or misled about the famine, the Chinese leadership were kept informed about it all the time. And he exposes the extent of the violence used against the peasants":

Mass killings are not usually associated with Mao and the Great Leap Forward, and China continues to benefit from a more favourable comparison with Cambodia or the Soviet Union. But as fresh and abundant archival evidence shows, coercion, terror and systematic violence were the foundation of the Great Leap, and between 1958 to 1962, by a rough approximation, some 6 to 8 per cent of those who died were tortured to death or summarily killed — amounting to at least 3 million victims.

Countless others were deliberately deprived of food and starved to death. Many more vanished because they were too old, weak or sick to work — and hence unable to earn their keep. People were killed selectively because they had the wrong class background, because they dragged their feet, because they spoke out or simply because they were not liked, for whatever reason, by the man who wielded the ladle in the canteen.

Dikötter argues that CPC leaders "glorified violence and were inured to massive loss of life. And all of them shared an ideology in which the end justified the means. In 1962, having lost millions of people in his province, Li Jingquan compared the Great Leap Forward to the Long March in which only one in ten had made it to the end: 'We are not weak, we are stronger, we have kept the backbone.'"

Regarding the large-scale irrigation projects, Dikötter stresses that, in spite of Mao being in a good position to see the human cost, they continued unabated for several years, and ultimately claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of exhausted villagers. He also notes that "In a chilling precursor of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, villagers in Qingshui and Gansu called these projects the 'killing fields'."

The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the Korean War, lasting until Richard Nixon decided that developing relations with the PRC would be useful in dealing with the Soviet Union.

Mao's military writings continue to have a large amount of influence both among those who seek to create an insurgency and those who seek to crush one, especially in manners of guerrilla warfare, at which Mao is popularly regarded as a genius. As an example, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) followed Mao's examples of guerrilla warfare to considerable political and military success even in the 21st century. Mao's major contribution to the military science is his theory of People's War, with not only guerilla warfare but more importantly, Mobile Warfare methodologies. Mao had successfully applied Mobile Warfare in the Korean War, and was able to encircle, push back and then halt the UN forces in Korea, despite the clear superiority of UN firepower. Mao also gave the impression that he might even welcome a nuclear war. Soviet historians have written that Mao believed his country could survive a nuclear war, even if it lost 300 million people.

"Let us imagine how many people would die if war breaks out. There are 2.7 billion people in the world, and a third could be lost. If it is a little higher it could be half ... I say that if the worst came to the worst and one-half dies, there will still be one-half left, but imperialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist. After a few years there would be 2.7 billion people again"

But historians dispute the sincerity of Mao's words. Robert Service says that Mao "was deadly serious," while Frank Dikötter claims that "He was bluffing... the sabre-rattling was to show that he, not Khrushchev, was the more determined revolutionary." John McCain misattributed a campaign quote to Mao several times during his 2008 presidential election bid, saying "Remember the words of Chairman Mao: 'It's always darkest before it's totally black.'"

The ideology of Maoism has influenced many communists, mainly in the Third World, including revolutionary movements such as Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, Peru's Shining Path, and the Nepalese revolutionary movement. The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA also claims Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as its ideology, as do other Communist Parties around the world which are part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. China itself has moved sharply away from Maoism since Mao's death, and most people outside of China who describe themselves as Maoist regard the Deng Xiaoping reforms to be a betrayal of Maoism, in line with Mao's view of "Capitalist roaders" within the Communist Party.

As the Chinese government instituted free market economic reforms starting in the late 1970s and as later Chinese leaders took power, less recognition was given to the status of Mao. This accompanied a decline in state recognition of Mao in later years in contrast to previous years when the state organized numerous events and seminars commemorating Mao's 100th birthday. Nevertheless, the Chinese government has never officially repudiated the tactics of Mao. Deng Xiaoping, who was opposed to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, has to a certain extent rejected Mao's legacy, famously saying that Mao was "70% right and 30% wrong".

In the mid-1990s, Mao Zedong's picture began to appear on all new renminbi currency from the People’s Republic of China. This was officially instituted as an anti-counterfeiting measure as Mao's face is widely recognized in contrast to the generic figures that appear in older currency. On March 13, 2006, a story in the People's Daily reported that a proposal had been made to print the portraits of Sun Yat-sen and Deng Xiaoping.

In 2006, the government in Shanghai issued a new set of high school history textbooks which omit Mao, with the exception of a single mention in a section on etiquette. Students in Shanghai now only learn about Mao in junior high school.

As a personality cult

Mao's figure is largely symbolic both in China and in the global communist movement as a whole. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao's already glorified image manifested into a personality cult that influenced every aspect of Chinese life. Mao was regarded as the undisputed leader of China's working class in their 100-year struggle against imperialism, feudalism and capitalism, which were the three-evils in pre-1949 China since the Opium War. Even today, many Chinese people regard Mao as a God-like figure, who led the ailing China onto the path of an independent and powerful nation, whose pictures can expel the evil spirit and bad luck.

At the 1958 Party congress in Chengdu, Mao expressed support for the idea of personality cults if they venerated figures who were genuinely worthy of adulation:

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In 1962, Mao proposed the Socialist Education Movement (SEM) in an attempt to educate the peasants to resist the temptations of feudalism and the sprouts of capitalism that he saw re-emerging in the countryside from Liu's economic reforms. Large quantities of politicized art were produced and circulated — with Mao at the center. Numerous posters, badges and musical compositions referenced Mao in the phrase "Chairman Mao is the red sun in our hearts" () and a "Savior of the people" ().

Mao's personality cult proved vital in starting the Cultural Revolution. China's youth had generally been raised during the Communist era, which had taught them to idolize Mao. The youth also did not remember the immense starvation and suffering caused by Mao's Great Leap Forward, and their thoughts of Mao were generally positive. Thus, they were his greatest supporters. Their feelings for him were of such strength that many followed his urge to challenge all established authority.

In October 1966, Mao's Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, which was known as the Little Red Book was published. Party members were encouraged to carry a copy with them and possession was almost mandatory as a criterion for membership. Over the years, Mao's image became displayed almost everywhere, present in homes, offices and shops. His quotations were typographically emphasized by putting them in boldface or red type in even the most obscure writings. Music from the period emphasized Mao's stature, as did children's rhymes. The phrase "Long Live Chairman Mao for ten thousand years" was commonly heard during the era, which was traditionally a phrase reserved for the reigning Emperor.

Today, Mao is still regarded by some as the "never setting Red Sun". He has been compared to the Sage Kings of the classical China. Since 1950, over 40 million people have visited Mao's birthplace in Shaoshan, Hunan.

Genealogy

Ancestors

His ancestors were:

Mao Yichang (毛贻昌, born Xiangtan 15 October 1870, died Shaoshan 23 January 1920), father, courtesy name Mao Shunsheng (毛顺生) or also known as Mao Jen-sheng

Wen Qimei (文七妹, born Xiangxiang 1867, died 5 October 1919), mother. She was illiterate and a devout Buddhist. She was a descendant of Wen Tianxiang.

Mao Empu (毛恩普), paternal grandfather

Lady Luo (罗氏), paternal grandmother

Mao Zuren (毛祖人), paternal great-grandfather

Wives

Mao Zedong had several wives who contributed to a large family. These were: # Luo Yixiu (罗一秀, 20 October 1889–1910) of Shaoshan: married 1907 to 1910 # Yang Kaihui (杨开慧, 1901–1930) of Changsha: married 1921 to 1927, executed by the KMT in 1930; mother to Mao Anying, Mao Anqing, and Mao Anlong # He Zizhen (贺子珍, 1910–1984) of Jiangxi: married May 1928 to 1939; mother to Mao Anhong, Li Min, and four other children # Jiang Qing: (江青, 1914–1991), married 1939 to Mao's death; mother to Li Na

Siblings

He had several siblings:

Mao Zemin (毛泽民, 1895–1943), younger brother, executed by a warlord

Mao Zetan (毛泽覃, 1905–1935), younger brother, executed by the KMT

Mao Zejian (毛泽建, 1905–1929), adopted sister, executed by the KMT

:Mao Zedong's parents altogether had six sons and two daughters. Two of the sons and both daughters died young, leaving the three brothers Mao Zedong, Mao Zemin, and Mao Zetan. Like all three of Mao Zedong's wives, Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were communists. Like Yang Kaihui, both Zemin and Zetan were killed in warfare during Mao Zedong's lifetime. Note that the character ze (泽) appears in all of the siblings' given names. This is a common Chinese naming convention.

From the next generation, Zemin's son, Mao Yuanxin, was raised by Mao Zedong's family. He became Mao Zedong's liaison with the Politburo in 1975. Sources like Li Zhisui (The Private Life of Chairman Mao) say that he played a role in the final power-struggles.

Children

Mao Zedong had a total of ten children, including:

Mao Anying (毛岸英): son to Yang, married to Liu Siqi (刘思齐), who was born Liu Songlin (刘松林), killed in action during the Korean War

Mao Anqing (1923–2007): son to Yang, married to Shao Hua (邵华), son Mao Xinyu (毛新宇), grandson Mao Dongdong

Mao Anlong (1927–1931): son to Yang, died during the Chinese Civil War

Mao Anhong (b. 1932): son to He, left to Mao's younger brother Zetan and then to one of Zetan's guards when he went off to war, was never heard of again

Li Min (李敏): daughter to He, married to Kong Linghua (孔令华), son Kong Ji'ning (孔继宁), daughter Kong Dongmei (孔冬梅)

Li Na (Chinese:李讷; Pinyin: Lĭ Nà): daughter to Jiang (whose birth given name was Li, a name also used by Mao while evading the KMT), married to Wang Jingqing (王景清), son Wang Xiaozhi (王效芝)

Mao's first and second daughters were left to local villagers because it was too dangerous to raise them while fighting the Kuomintang and later the Japanese. Their youngest daughter (born in early 1938 in Moscow after Mao and He separated) and one other child (born 1933) died in infancy. Two English researchers who retraced the entire Long March route in 2002–2003 located a woman whom they believe might well be one of the missing children abandoned by Mao to peasants in 1935. Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen hope a member of the Mao family will respond to requests for a DNA test.

Personal life

There are few academic sources discussing Mao's private life, which was very secretive at the time of his rule. However, and particularly after Mao's death, there has been an influx of publications on his personal life, as an example The Private Life of Chairman Mao by his physician Li Zhisui. The Private Life of Chairman Mao claims he had chain smoked cigarettes, had poor dental hygiene, causing his teeth to be colored green (it was also claimed that he rubbed green tea on his teeth instead of more commonly used dental hygiene methods, giving his teeth a distinctly green color) and generally lived a life of deviancy and excess.

Having grown up in Hunan, Mao spoke Mandarin with a heavy Xiang Chinese accent that is very pronounced on recordings of his speeches.

Writings and calligraphy

: The People's Republic of China: all ethnics unite. Mao Zedong. ( Zhōnghuárénmíngònghéguó gè mínzú tuánjié qǐ lái – Máo Zédōng)]]

Mao was a prolific writer of political and philosophical literature. Mao is the attributed author of Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, known in the West as the "Little Red Book" and in Cultural-revolution China as the "Red Treasure Book" (红宝书): this is a collection of short extracts from his speeches and articles, edited by Lin Biao and ordered topically. Mao wrote several other philosophical treatises, both before and after he assumed power. These include:

On Guerrilla Warfare (《游击战》); 1937

On Practice (《实践论》); 1937

On Contradiction (《矛盾论》); 1937

On Protracted War (《论持久战》); 1938

In Memory of Norman Bethune (《纪念白求恩》); 1939

On New Democracy (《新民主主义论》); 1940

Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art (《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》); 1942

Serve the People (《为人民服务》); 1944

The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains (《愚公移山》); 1945

On the Correct Handling of the Contradictions Among the People (《正确处理人民内部矛盾问题》); 1957

Mao was also a skilled Chinese calligrapher with a highly personal style. In China, Mao was considered a master calligrapher during his lifetime. His calligraphy can be seen today throughout mainland China. His work gave rise to a new form of Chinese calligraphy called "Mao-style" or Maoti, which has gained increasing popularity since his death. There currently exist various competitions specializing in Mao-style calligraphy.

Literary figure

Politics aside, Mao is considered one of modern China's most influential literary figures, and was an avid poet, mainly in the classical ci and shi forms. His poems are all in the traditional Chinese verse style.

As did most Chinese intellectuals of his generation, Mao received rigorous education in Chinese classical literature. His style was deeply influenced by the great Tang Dynasty poets Li Bai and Li He. He is considered to be a romantic poet, in contrast to the realist poets represented by Du Fu.

Many of Mao's poems are still popular in China and a few are taught as a mandatory part of the elementary school curriculum. Some of his most well-known poems are: Changsha (1925), The Double Ninth (1929.10), Loushan Pass (1935), The Long March (1935), Snow (1936.02), The PLA Captures Nanjing (1949.04), Reply to Li Shuyi (1957.05.11), and Ode to the Plum Blossom (1961.12).

See also

Chairman Mao badge

Maoism

Mao suit

Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong – "The Little Red Book"

Poetry of Mao Zedong

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

Mao's Great Famine

Mao Xinyu

He was portrayed by Tang Guoqiang in the 2009 movie The Founding of a Republic

References

Further reading

Cheek, Timothy, ed. Mao Zedong and China's Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture. NY: Palgrave, 2002).

Cheek, Timothy, ed.A Critical Introduction to Mao (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010 ISBN 9780521884624).

Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62. Walker & Company, 2010. ISBN 0802777686

Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Mao Zedong. Ed. Arthur Sze. (Trinity University Press, 2010).

Annotated writings

Serve the People, mouseover annotated version of Mao's 1944 speech

Remembering Norman Bethune mouseover annotated version of Mao's 1935 eulogy for the famous Canadian doctor

External links

Discusses the life, military influence and writings of Chairman Mao ZeDong.

Asia Source biography

ChineseMao.com: Extensive resources about Mao Zedong

CNN profile

China must confront dark past, says Mao confidant

Collected Works of Mao at the Maoist Internationalist Movement

Mao quotations

Mao was cruel – but also laid the ground for today's China

Mao Zedong Reference Archive at marxists.org

On the Role of Mao Zedong

Oxford Companion to World Politics: Mao Zedong

Propaganda paintings showing Mao as the great leader of China

Remembering Mao's Victims

Mao Tse Tung: Leader, Killer, Icon

Spartacus Educational biography

Uncounted Millions: Mass Death in Mao's China

Mao's Great Leap to Famine

Finding the Facts About Mao’s Victims

What Maoism Has Contributed

Remembering China's Great Helmsman

Short bio of Mao at the official Communist Party of China web site

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Category:Mao Zedong Category:1893 births Category:1976 deaths Category:Anti-fascists Category:Anti-Revisionists Category:Chinese communists Category:Chinese guerrillas Category:Chinese military writers Category:Chinese people of World War II Category:Chinese philosophers Category:Chinese revolutionaries Category:Cold War leaders Category:Communist poets Category:Communist rulers Category:Culture heroes Category:Cultural Revolution people Category:Deaths from motor neurone disease Category:Family of Mao Zedong Category:Guerrilla warfare theorists Category:Leaders of the Communist Party of China Category:Maoist theorists Category:Marxist theorists Category:Mummies Category:Peking University faculty Category:People from Xiangtan Category:People of the Chinese Civil War Category:People with Parkinson's disease Category:Political philosophers Category:Presidents of the People's Republic of China

Name	Anita Dunn
Occupation	Political media strategistExecutive
Office1	White House Communications Director
Term start1	May 2009
Term end1	November 30, 2009
Predecessor1	Ellen Moran
Successor1	Daniel Pfeiffer
Appointed1	Barack Obama
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Robert Bauer
Children	Steven Bauer
Alma mater	University of Maryland

Anita Dunn is a political strategist who served as White House Communications Director from April through November 2009. She is a senior partner at Squier Knapp Dunn Communications in Washington, D.C. and has recently become a contributor for NBC News / MSNBC / CNBC.

Life and career

Dunn began her career in the Carter White House, first as an intern for White House Communications Director Gerald Rafshoon and then worked for chief of staff Hamilton Jordan. She worked on the campaign of Senator John Glenn (D-OH) in 1984, including serving as the chief strategist for his presidential campaign, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN), former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD). In 2004, Anita produced the media for Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX). She was hired by then-Senator Barack Obama in 2006 to direct communications and strategy for his political action committee, The Hopefund. This move signaled to many that Obama was planning to run for the presidency. While advising Hopefund and Obama in 2006, she was instrumental in the preparations for the launch of Obama for America, and brought many key staffers to the Obama campaign with whom she had worked in Bayh's and Daschle's offices.

Obama campaign

In April 2008, it was announced that Dunn, who had joined the Obama campaign in February, would be the director of communications, policy and research operations for Obama for America, where she held the title Senior Adviser and was one of the major decision makers of the Obama campaign. She was featured as one of four top advisers (along with David Axelrod, David Plouffe, and Robert Gibbs) in a 60 Minutes interview held after then President-elect Obama's November 4, 2008 victory speech at Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois. She was described, in the 60 Minutes interview, as, "a relative newcomer who handled communications, research and policy." During the presidential transition of 2008-09, Dunn trained White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Controversies as White House Communications Director

A veteran political operative, Dunn, as interim White House Communications Director, took the lead in the Obama administration's criticism of the Fox News Channel. On Sunday, October 11, 2009, she appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources and was asked to clarify a statement she made to Time magazine regarding Fox News, "it's opinion journalism masquerading as news." She responded by saying, "if you were a Fox News viewer in the fall election, what you would have seen would have been that the biggest stories and biggest threats facing America were a guy named Bill Ayers and something called . The reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party." She added, "And it's not ideological. Obviously, there are many commentators who have conservative, liberal, centrist, and everybody understands that. But I think what is fair to say about FOX and certainly the way we view it is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party."

Following her statements, Glenn Beck played on his show a portion of a speech Dunn gave at a high school graduation, during which she referenced Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa as two of her "favorite political philosophers." Beck stated that the speech revealed Dunn as a Maoist, while Dunn stated that her reference was meant to be ironic, and was a quote borrowed from Republican strategist Lee Atwater.

Dunn left her interim post at the end of November 2009 and was replaced by her deputy Dan Pfeiffer.

Personal life

Dunn is married to Robert Bauer, former partner at Perkins Coie and current personal counsel to President Obama and the White House Counsel. Bauer has also been the general counsel of Obama for America since January 2007. In 2008, Newsweek named Dunn and Bauer the new "power couple" in Washington, D.C.

See also

List of Barack Obama presidential campaign staff members, 2008

References

External links

Category:Living people Category:American political consultants Category:Obama Administration personnel Category:White House Communications Directors Category:University of Maryland, College Park alumni

Name	Richard M. Nixon
Order	37th President of the United States
Term start	January 20, 1969
Term end	August 9, 1974
Predecessor	Lyndon B. Johnson
Successor	Gerald Ford
Birth date	January 09, 1913
Birth place	Yorba Linda, California
Death date	April 22, 1994
Death place	New York City, New York
Restingplace	Nixon Presidential LibraryYorba Linda, California
Religion	Quaker
Signature	Richard Nixon Signature.svg
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink
Spouse	Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan
Children	Tricia Nixon CoxJulie Nixon Eisenhower
Occupation	Lawyer
Alma mater	Whittier College (B.A.) Duke University School of Law (LL.B.)
Party	Republican
Vicepresident	Spiro Agnew (1969–1973)(Resigned, Oct 10, 1973)Gerald Ford (1973–1974)(Ascended to Presidency, August 9, 1974)
Order3	36th Vice President of the United States
Term start3	January 20, 1953
Term end3	January 20, 1961
Predecessor3	Alben W. Barkley
Successor3	Lyndon B. Johnson
President3	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Order4	United States Senator from California
Term start4	December 4, 1950
Term end4	January 1, 1953
Predecessor4	Sheridan Downey
Successor4	Thomas Kuchel
Order5	Member of the US House of Representatives from California's 12th District
Term start5	January 3, 1947
Term end5	December 1, 1950
Predecessor5	Jerry Voorhis
Successor5	Patrick J. Hillings
Branch	United States Navy
Serviceyears	1942–1946
Rank	Lieutenant commander
Awards	American Campaign MedalAsiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with two service stars)World War II Victory Medal
Battles	World War II (Pacific Theater)

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States from 1969 to 1974, having formerly been the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. A member of the Republican Party, he was the only President to resign the office as well as the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.

Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law in La Habra. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific theater, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during World War II. He was elected in 1946 as a Republican to the House of Representatives representing California's 12th Congressional district, and in 1950 to the United States Senate. He was selected to be the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party nominee, in the 1952 Presidential election, becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidents in history. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of California in 1962; following these losses, Nixon announced his withdrawal from political life. In 1968, however, he ran again for president of the United States and was elected.

The most immediate task facing President Nixon was a resolution of the Vietnam War. He initially escalated the conflict, overseeing incursions into neighboring countries, though American military personnel were gradually withdrawn and he successfully negotiated a ceasefire with North Vietnam in 1973, effectively ending American involvement in the war. His foreign policy initiatives were largely successful: his groundbreaking visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. On the domestic front, he implemented the concept of New Federalism, transferring power from the federal government to the states; new economic policies which called for wage and price control and the abolition of the gold standard; sweeping environmental reforms, including the Clean Air Act and creation of the EPA; the launch of the War on Cancer and War on Drugs; reforms empowering women, including Title IX; and the desegregation of schools in the deep South. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972. He continued many reforms in his second term, though the nation was afflicted with an energy crisis. In the face of likely impeachment for his role in the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. He was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, for any federal crimes he may have committed while in office.

In his retirement, Nixon became a prolific author and undertook many foreign trips. His work as an elder statesman helped to rehabilitate his public image. He suffered a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and died four days later at the age of 81.

Early life

Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, to Francis A. Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon in a house his father had built in Yorba Linda, California. Nixon had four brothers: Harold (1909–1933), Donald (1914–1987), Arthur (1918–1925), and Ed (born 1930). Four of the five of the Nixon boys were named after early English kings; Richard was named after Richard the Lionheart.

Nixon's early life was marked by hardship, and he would later quote a saying of Eisenhower to describe his boyhood, "We were poor, but the glory of it was, we didn't know it." The Nixon family ranch failed in 1922, and the family then moved to East Whittier, California, in an area with many Quakers, where his father opened a grocery store and gas station. Richard's younger brother Arthur died in 1925 after a short illness, and his older brother Harold, whom Richard greatly admired, died of tuberculosis in 1933. Historian David Reynolds summarises : "His father was a violent bully, his mother a devoted Quaker and home-maker, yet the young Richard drew no real warmth from her; there were few hugs and kisses. Much of his mother's energy was expended on his sickly brothers. Richard grew up insecure, withdrawn and emotionally bottled-up - yet these trials spurred a fierce ambition."

Nixon attended Fullerton High School in Fullerton, but later he transferred to Whittier High School, where he graduated second in his class in 1930. He lost the 1929 student body presidential election at Whittier to a more popular student, a loss which wounded him, but would be his last electoral defeat for 31 years. Richard was offered a scholarship to Harvard, but his family lacked the money for him to travel to and live in the East; he instead lived at home and took up a scholarship to Whittier College. a local Quaker school, where he co-founded a fraternity known as The Orthogonian Society. Nixon was a formidable debater, standout in collegiate drama productions, student body president, and was on the college baseball, football and track teams. While at Whittier, he lived at home and worked at his family's store;

Nixon received a full scholarship to Duke University School of Law. The number of scholarships were greatly reduced for second and third year students, forcing the students into intense competition. Nixon was elected president of the Duke Bar Association and graduated third in his class in June 1937.

Law practice

Although Nixon's first choice was to get a job with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he returned to California and was admitted to the bar in 1937. He began practicing with Wingert and Bewley, In 1938, he opened up his own branch of Wingert and Bewley in La Habra, California, becoming a full partner in the firm the following year.

Marriage

In January 1938, Nixon was cast in the Whittier Community Players production of The Dark Tower. There he played opposite a high school teacher named Thelma "Pat" Ryan. Nixon pursued her, but initially Ryan was not interested in a relationship. He began making unannounced visits to her home and would take her on Sunday drives to the Quaker Sunday School where he was a teacher. After several proposals, Ryan eventually agreed to marry Nixon and they wed at a small ceremony on June 21, 1940. In January 1942, they moved to Washington, D.C., where Richard Nixon took a job at the Office of Price Administration. After requesting more challenging duties, he was given command of cargo handling units. Nixon returned to the United States with two service stars (although he saw no actual combat) and a citation of commendation, and became the administrative officer of the Alameda Naval Air Station. In January, 1945, he was transferred to Philadelphia's Bureau of Aeronautics office to help negotiate the termination of war contracts. There he received another letter of commendation, this time from Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. In October 1945, he was promoted to lieutenant commander.

Congressional career

House of Representatives

Soon after World War II ended, a group of Whittier Republicans approached Nixon about running for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Nixon accepted their offer, and waged a campaign which ended in a victory over the five-term Democratic incumbent Jerry Voorhis in November 1946. Nixon represented southern California's 12th Congressional district for the next four years.

In Congress, Nixon supported the Taft-Hartley Act of 1948, and served on the Education and Labor Committee. They were alleged to be accessible only to Hiss and to have been typed on his personal typewriter. Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950 for statements he made to the HUAC. The discovery that Hiss committed perjury and thus may well have been a Soviet spy thrust Nixon into the spotlight for the first time.

This case turned the young Congressman into a controversial figure. The campaign is best remembered as one of the most contentious of the times. Nixon felt the former actress was a left-wing sympathizer, labeling her "pink right down to her underwear." He voted against price controls and other monetary controls, benefits for illegal immigrants, and public power. In September, the New York Post published an article claiming that campaign donors were buying influence with Nixon by providing him with a secret cash fund for his personal expenses. Republicans, including some within Eisenhower's campaign, pressured Eisenhower to remove Nixon from the ticket, but Eisenhower realized that he was unlikely to win without Nixon.

, 1957]] Nixon appeared on television on September 23, 1952, to defend himself against the allegations. He detailed his personal finances and mentioned the independent third-party review of the fund's accounting. and greatly aided Nixon in remaining on the ticket.

As Vice President, Nixon expanded the office into an important and prominent post. Nixon conducted National Security meetings in the president's absence.

Although he had little formal power, Nixon had the attention of the media and the Republican Party. Using these, he and his wife undertook many foreign trips of goodwill to garner support for American policies during the Cold War. Nixon was, and is still, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the African nation. In July 1959, President Eisenhower sent Nixon to the Soviet Union for Moscow's opening of the American National Exhibition. On July 24, while touring the exhibits with Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, the two stopped at a model of an American kitchen and engaged in an impromptu exchange that became known as the "Kitchen Debate" about the merits of capitalism versus communism.

1960 presidential election

in the first-ever televised U.S. presidential election debate.]] In 1960, Nixon launched his campaign for President of the United States. He faced little opposition in the Republican primaries. In his acceptance speech after winning the nomination at the Republican convention, Nixon said: "I can only say tonight to you that I believe in the American dream because I have seen it come true in my own life. With faith in America, with faith in her ideals and in her people I accept her nomination for President of the United States." He chose former Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. as his running mate. Nixon campaigned on his experience, but Kennedy called for new blood and claimed the Eisenhower-Nixon administration allowed the Soviet Union to overtake the U.S. in ballistic missiles (the "missile gap"). Kennedy told voters it was time to "get the country moving again." In the midst of the campaign, Nixon advocated stimulative tax cuts in what would become one of the core tenets of the supply-side theory of economics. He also presented a plan for economic growth and deficit reduction, which appealed to many.

Nixon lost the election narrowly, with Kennedy ahead by only 120,000 votes (0.2%) in the popular vote. After all the court battles and recounts were done, Kennedy had a greater number of electoral votes than he held after Election Day.

Wilderness years

, 1962]] Following his loss to Kennedy, Nixon and his family returned to California, where he practiced law and wrote a bestselling book, Six Crises.

Local and national Republican leaders encouraged Nixon to challenge incumbent Pat Brown for Governor of California in the 1962 election.

The Nixon family traveled to Europe in 1963; Nixon gave press conferences and met with leaders of the countries he visited. The family soon moved to New York City, where Nixon became a senior partner in the leading law firm Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander. Nelson Rockefeller lived upstairs, and during the Presidential campaign of 1968 the two used different entrances and elevators. In March–April 1964 he made a trip to Asia, which included South Vietnam and Japan. During and immediately after the trip, he made many media appearances in which he called on the Johnson Administration to escalate the struggle against communism in South East Asia to the point of invading North Vietnam and Laos.

Though largely out of the public eye, he was still supported by much of the Republican base who respected his knowledge of politics and international affairs. He campaigned for Republican candidates in the 1966 Congressional elections

Toward the end of 1967, Nixon was experiencing a crisis of indecision about whether to run for president the following year. He consulted with longtime friend the Reverend Billy Graham, who urged him to run. He later held a dinner at his home with friends and all except his wife supported a presidential bid. He appealed to what he called the "silent majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the hippie counterculture and the anti-war demonstrators, and secured the nomination in August. His running mate, Maryland governor Spiro Agnew, became an increasingly vocal critic of these groups, solidifying Nixon's position with the right.

Nixon waged a prominent television campaign, meeting with supporters in front of cameras and advertising on the television medium. He stressed that the crime rate was too high, and attacked what he perceived as a surrender by the Democrats of the United States' nuclear superiority. His campaign was aided by turmoil within the Democratic Party: His slogan of "Nixon's the One" proved to be effective.

Presidency (1969–1974)

s.]]

First term (1969-1973)

Nixon was inaugurated on January 20, 1969. Pat Nixon held the family Bibles open to Isaiah 2:4, reading, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In his inaugural address, which received almost uniformly positive reviews, Nixon remarked that "the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker."

Nixon set out to reconstruct the Western Alliance, develop a relationship with China, pursue arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, activate a peace process in the Middle East, restrain inflation, implement anti-crime measures, accelerate desegregation, and reform welfare.

Nixon approved a secret bombing campaign of North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia in March 1969 (code-named Operation Menu) to destroy what was believed to be the headquarters of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam. The Air Force considered the bombings a success. In June 1969, in a campaign fulfillment, Nixon reduced troop strength in Vietnam by 25,000 soldiers, who returned home to the United States. From 1969 to 1972 troop reduction in Vietnam was estimated to be 405,000 soldiers.

In July 1969, the Nixons visited South Vietnam, where President Nixon met with his U.S. military commanders and President Nguyen Van Thieu. Amid protests at home, he implemented what became known as the Nixon Doctrine, a strategy of replacing American troops with Vietnamese troops, also called "Vietnamization". In a televised speech on April 30, 1970, Nixon announced the incursion of U.S. troops into Cambodia to disrupt so-called North Vietnamese sanctuaries. This led to protest and student strikes that temporarily closed 536 universities, colleges, and high schools.

Nixon formed the Gates Commission to look into ending the military service draft, implemented under President Johnson. The Gates Commission issued its report in February 1970, describing how adequate military strength could be maintained without conscription. The draft was extended to June 1973, and then ended. Military pay was increased as an incentive to attract volunteers, and television advertising for the United States Army began for the first time.

In December 1972, though concerned about the level of civilian casualties, Nixon approved Linebacker II, the codename for aerial bombings of military and industrial targets in North Vietnam. After years of fighting, the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. The treaty, however, made no provision that 145,000–160,000 North Vietnam Army regulars located in the Central Highlands and other areas of S. Vietnam had to withdraw.

In 1970, the Democratic Congress passed the Economic Stabilization Act, giving Nixon power to set wages and prices; Congress did not believe the president would use the new controls and felt this would make him appear to be indecisive. While opposed to permanent wage and price controls, Nixon imposed the controls on a temporary basis in a 90 day wage and price freeze. The controls (enforced for large corporations, voluntary for others) were the largest since World War II; they were relaxed after the initial 90 days.

A Pay Board set wage controls limiting increases to 5.5% per year, and the Price Commission set a 2.5% annual limit on price increases. The limits did help to control wages, but not inflation. Overall, however, the controls were viewed as successful in the short term and were popular with the public, who felt Nixon was rescuing them from price-gougers and from a foreign-caused exchange crisis.

Nixon was worried about the effects of increasing inflation and accelerating unemployment, so he indexed Social Security for inflation, and created Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In 1969, he had presented the only balanced budget between 1961 and 1998. However, despite speeches declaring an opposition to the idea, he decided to offer Congress a budget with deficit spending to reduce unemployment and declared, "Now I am a Keynesian". The price of gold had been set at $35 an ounce since the days of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency; foreign countries acquired more dollar reserves, outnumbering the entire amount of gold the United States possessed. Nixon completely eradicated the gold standard, preventing other countries from being able to claim gold in exchange for their dollar reserves, but also weakening the exchange rate of the dollar against other currencies and increasing inflation by driving up the cost of imports. Said Nixon in his speech:

"The American dollar must never again be a hostage in the hands of international speculators.... Government... does not hold the key to the success of a people. That key... is in your hands. Every action I have taken tonight is designed to nurture and stimulate that competitive spirit to help us snap out of self-doubt, the self-disparagement that saps our energy and erodes our confidence in ourselves... Whether the nation stays Number One depends on your competitive spirit, your sense of personal destiny, your pride in your country and yourself."

Other parts of the Nixon plan included the reimposition of a 10% investment tax credit, assistance to the automobile industry in the form of removal of excise taxes (provided the savings were passed directly to the consumer), His economic program was determined to be a clear success by December 1971. One of Nixon's economic advisers, Herbert Stein, wrote: "Probably more new regulation was imposed on the economy during the Nixon administration than in any other presidency since the New Deal." Indeed, Nixon believed in using government wisely to benefit all and supported the idea of practical liberalism.

Nixon initiated the Environmental Decade by signing the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972, as well as establishing many government agencies. These included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), The Clean Air Act was noted as one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation ever signed. He reorganized the Post Office Department from a cabinet department to a government-owned corporation: the U.S. Postal Service.

On June 17, 1971, Nixon formally declared the U.S. War on Drugs.

On October 30, 1972 Nixon signed into law the Social Security Amendments of 1972 which included the creation of the Supplemental Security Income Program, a Federal Welfare Program still in existence today.

Nixon cut billions of dollars in federal spending and expanded the power of the Office of Management and Budget. He established the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1972 Strategically, Nixon sought a middle way between the segregationist George C. Wallace and liberal Democrats, whose support of integration was alienating some Southern white Democrats. He was determined to implement exactly what the courts had ordered— desegregation — but did not favor busing children, in the words of author Conrad Black, "all over the country to satisfy the capricious meddling of judges." Nixon, a Quaker, felt that racism was the greatest moral failure of the United States

Nixon tied desegregation to improving the quality of education and enforced the law after the Supreme Court, in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969), prohibited further delays. By the fall of 1970, two million southern black children had enrolled in newly created unitary fully integrated school districts; only 18% of Southern black children were still attending all-black schools, a decrease from 70% when Nixon came to office. Nixon's Cabinet Committee on Education, under the leadership of Labor Secretary George P. Shultz, quietly set up local biracial committees to assure smooth compliance without violence or political grandstanding. "In this sense, Nixon was the greatest school desegregator in American history," historian Dean Kotlowski concluded. Author Conrad Black concurred: "In his singular, unsung way, Richard Nixon defanged and healed one of the potentially greatest controversies of the time." Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Nixon's presidential counselor, commented in 1970 that “There has been more change in the structure of American public school education in the last month than in the past 100 years.”

In addition to desegregating public schools, Nixon implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first significant federal affirmative action program in 1970. Nixon also endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment after it passed both houses of Congress in 1972 and went to the states for ratification as a Constitutional amendment. Nixon had campaigned as an ERA supporter in 1968, though feminists criticized him for doing little to help the ERA or their cause after his election, which led to a much stronger women's rights agenda. Nixon increased the number of female appointees to administration positions. Nixon signed the landmark laws Title IX in 1972, prohibiting gender discrimination in all federally funded schools and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. In 1970 Nixon had vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act, denouncing the universal child-care bill, but signed into law Title X, which was a step forward for family planning and contraceptives.

It was during the Nixon Presidency that the Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade ruling, legalizing abortion. First Lady Pat Nixon had been outspoken about her support for legalized abortion, a goal for many feminists (though there was a significant pro-life minority faction of the Women's Liberation Movement as well). Nixon himself did not speak out publicly on the abortion issue, but was personally pro-choice, and believed that, in certain cases such as rape, abortion was an option.

U.S. space program

astronauts in quarantine.]] In 1969, Nixon's first year in office, the United States sent three manned missions to the moon, becoming the only nation in the world to do so. On July 20, Nixon addressed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, two of the astronauts, live over radio during their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk. Nixon also placed a telephone call to Armstrong on the moon, the longest distance phone call ever, and called it "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House." He observed their landing in the ocean from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

On January 5, 1972, Nixon approved the development of NASA's Space Shuttle program, a decision that profoundly influenced American efforts to explore and develop space for several decades thereafter. Under the Nixon administration, however, NASA's budget declined. NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine was drawing up ambitious plans for the establishment of a permanent base on the Moon by the end of the 1970s and the launch of a manned expedition to Mars as early as 1981. Nixon, however, rejected this proposal.

On May 24, 1972, Nixon approved a five-year cooperative program between NASA and the Soviet space program, culminating in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a joint-mission of an American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in 1975.

Indo-Pakistani War

A conflict broke out in Pakistan in 1971 following independence demonstrations in East Pakistan; President Yahya Khan instructed the Pakistani Army to quell the riots, resulting in widespread human rights abuses. President Nixon liked Yahya personally, and credited him for helping to open a channel to China; accordingly, he felt obligated to support him in the struggle. There were limits to how far the U.S. could associate itself with Pakistan, however. and the emigration of over 10 million people into India. His objective was to prevent a war and safeguard Pakistan's interests, though he feared an Indian invasion of West Pakistan that would lead to Indian domination of the sub-continent and strengthen the position of the Soviet Union, which had recently signed a cooperation treaty with India. Nixon felt that the Soviet Union was inciting the country. he did not trust her and once referred to her as an "old witch". On December 3, Yahya attacked the Indian Air Force and Gandhi retaliated, pushing into East Pakistan. Nixon issued a statement blaming Pakistan for starting the conflict and blaming India for escalating it The United States was secretly encouraging the shipment of military equipment from Iran, Turkey, and Jordan to Pakistan, reimbursing those countries despite Congressional objections. A cease fire was reached on December 16 and Bangladesh was created.

China

upon arriving in Beijing]]

Relations between the Western powers and Eastern Bloc changed dramatically in the early 1970s. In 1960, the People's Republic of China publicly split from its main ally, the Soviet Union, in the Sino-Soviet Split. As tension along the border between the two communist nations reached its peak in 1969 and 1970, Nixon decided to use their conflict to shift the balance of power towards the West in the Cold War.

Nixon had begun entreating China a mere month into office by sending covert messages of rapprochement through Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania and Yahya Khan of Pakistan in December 1970. He reduced many trade restrictions between the two countries, and silenced anti-China voices within the White House.

In April 1971, the Chinese table tennis team invited the American table tennis team to attend a demonstration competition for a week in China. The invitation came upon the order of Mao Zedong himself, who had taken note of Nixon's "subtle overtures" to improve U.S.-Chinese relations, including the conflict in Pakistan. (the term "ping pong diplomacy" arose from this encounter).

Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, through Pakistani intermediaries, had relayed a message to Nixon reading: "The Chinese government reaffirms its willingness to receive publicly in Peking a special envoy of the president of the United States, or the U.S. secretary of state, or even the president himself." Nixon sent then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger on a secret mission to China in July 1971, to arrange a visit by the president and first lady.

Mao Zedong (left) in a historic visit to the People's Republic of China, 1972.]] In February 1972, President and Mrs. Nixon traveled to China, where the president was to engage in direct talks with Mao and Chou. Kissinger briefed Nixon for over forty hours in preparation. Upon touching down, the President and First Lady emerged from Air Force One and greeted Chou. According to Nixon biographer Stephen Ambrose:

"[Nixon] knew that when his old friend John Foster Dulles had refused to shake the hand of Chou En-lai in Geneva in 1954, Chou had felt insulted. He knew too that American television cameras would be at the Beijing airport to film his arrival. A dozen times on the way to Peking, Nixon told Kissinger and Secretary of State William Rogers that they were to stay on the plane until he had descended the gangway and shaken Zhou Enlai's hand. As added insurance, a Secret Service agent blocked the aisle of Air Force One to make sure the president emerged alone."

Over one hundred television journalists accompanied the president. On Nixon's orders, television was strongly favored over printed publications, as it would capture the trip's visuals much better while snubbing the print journalists Nixon despised. Mao later told his doctor that he had been impressed by Nixon, who was forthright, unlike the leftists and the Soviets. When not in meetings, Nixon toured architectural wonders including the Forbidden City, Ming Tombs, and the Great Wall.

Soviet Union

Nixon used the improving international environment to address the topic of nuclear peace. Following his successful visit to China, the Nixon administration drew up plans for the president to visit the Soviet Union. The President and First Lady arrived in Moscow on May 22, 1972.

during the Soviet Leader's trip to the U.S. in 1973]] Nixon met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, and engaged in intense negotiations regarding international issues To win American friendship, both China and the Soviet Union cut back on their diplomatic support for North Vietnam and advised Hanoi to come to terms. Nixon laid out his strategy:

"I had long believed that an indispensable element of any successful peace initiative in Vietnam was to enlist, if possible, the help of the Soviets and the Chinese. Though rapprochement with China and détente with the Soviet Union were ends in themselves, I also considered them possible means to hasten the end of the war. At worst, Hanoi was bound to feel less confident if Washington was dealing with Moscow and Beijing. At best, if the two major Communist powers decided that they had bigger fish to fry, Hanoi would be pressured into negotiating a settlement we could accept."

Having made great progress over the last two years in U.S.-Soviet relations, Nixon planned a second trip to the Soviet Union in 1974. He arrived in Moscow on June 27 to a welcome ceremony, cheering crowds, and a state dinner at the Grand Kremlin Palace that evening. Largely assured the Republican nomination, but Senator Edmund Muskie instead became the front runner, with Senator George McGovern in a close second place. Alabama Governor George Wallace entered the race as an Independent; popular in Florida, he would create havoc among the Democrats and boost Nixon's campaign.

Prominent issues of the early campaign included school busing and heated relations between the three branches of the government. Nixon addressed the nation on March 16 about the school busing issue, reiterating that it was wrong to force a child onto a school bus and that busing lowered the quality of education. the bill later passed. Vietnam was still ongoing, though Nixon had reduced troop levels dramatically.

On June 10, McGovern won the California primary and secured the Democratic nomination. The following month, Nixon was renominated at the 1972 Republican National Convention. He dismissed the Democratic platform as cowardly and divisive. Nixon was ahead in most polls for the entire election cycle, and was reelected on November 7, 1972 in one of the largest landslide election victories in U.S. political history. He defeated McGovern with over 60% of the popular vote, losing only in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Nixon's victory made him the first former Vice President since Thomas Jefferson to win two terms as President. Nixon and Franklin Roosevelt are the only candidates in U.S. history to appear on five presidential tickets for a major party.

Second term (1973-1974)

On October 10, 1973, Vice President Agnew resigned, amid charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering from his tenure as Maryland's governor. Nixon chose Representative Gerald Ford, Republican Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to replace Agnew.

Continuation of economic changes

After he won reelection, Nixon found that inflation was increasing, and the legislation authorizing price controls expired April 30, 1973. The Senate Democratic Caucus recommended a 90-day freeze on all profits, interest rates, and prices.

In his 1974 State of the Union address, Nixon called for comprehensive health insurance. On February 6, 1974, he introduced the Comprehensive Health Insurance Act. Nixon's plan would have mandated employers to purchase health insurance for their employees, and in addition provided a federal health plan, similar to Medicaid, that any American could join by paying on a sliding scale based on income. The New York Daily News writes that Ted Kennedy rejected the universal health coverage plan offered by Nixon because it wasn't everything he wanted it to be. Kennedy later realized it was a missed opportunity to make major progress toward his goal.

Yom Kippur War and 1973 oil crisis

The Nixon administration supported Israel, a powerful American ally in the Middle East, during the Yom Kippur War. When an Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria attacked in October 1973, Israel suffered initial losses and pressed European powers for help, but (with the exception of the Netherlands) the Europeans responded with inaction. Nixon cut through inter-departmental squabbles and bureaucracy to initiate an airlift of American arms. By the time the U.S. and the Soviet Union negotiated a truce, Israel had penetrated deep into enemy territory. A long-term effect was the movement of Egypt away from the Soviets toward the U.S. But Israel's victory came at the cost to the U.S. of the 1973 oil crisis; the members of OPEC decided to raise oil prices in response to the American support of Israel.

After Nixon chose to go off the gold standard, foreign countries increased their currency reserves in anticipation of currency fluctuation, which caused deflation of the dollar and other world currencies. Since oil was paid for in dollars, OPEC was receiving less value for their product. They cut production and announced price hikes as well as an embargo targeted against the United States and the Netherlands, specifically blaming U.S. support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War for the actions.

On January 2, 1974, Nixon signed a bill that lowered the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 miles per hour (88.5 km/h) to conserve gasoline during the crisis. This law was repealed in 1995, though states had been allowed to raise the limit to 65 miles per hour in rural areas since 1987.

Watergate

The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of illegal and secret activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. The activities became known in the aftermath of five men being caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. The Washington Post picked up on the story, while reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward relied on an FBI informant known as "Deep Throat" to link the men to the Nixon White House. In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had a secret taping system that recorded his conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office.

as he departs the White House for the final time.]] Though Nixon lost much popular support, including from some in his own party, he rejected accusations of wrongdoing and vowed to stay in office. On November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer session with the press,}}

In April 1974, Nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides. On May 28, 2009, speaking to Republicans in Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, Ed Nixon said that his brother did not resign "in disgrace" but "resigned in honor. It was a disappointment to him because his missions were cut short." He also said that his brother "held the office of president in high regard."

Judicial appointments

Nixon appointed the following justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: Warren E. Burger as Chief Justice in 1969, Harry Andrew Blackmun in 1970, Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. in 1972, and William Rehnquist later that year. Along with his four Supreme Court appointments, Nixon appointed 46 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 181 judges to the United States district courts. Nixon formally nominated one person, Charles A. Bane, for a federal appellate judgeship, who was never confirmed.

Pardons

Nixon issued 926 pardons or commutations. Among notable cases were labor leader Jimmy Hoffa (sentence commuted on condition) and mobster Angelo DeCarlo (convicted of extortion; served one and a half years; pardoned because of poor health). DeCarlo's pardon was later investigated, but no evidence was found of corruption.

During his presidency, Nixon decided to grant clemency in over 20% of requests.

Later life

Pardon and illness

Following his resignation, the Nixons returned to their home La Casa Pacifica in San Clemente, California. Nixon was said to be in seclusion for a number of days in his home, first experiencing shock and later persistent sadness. On September 8, 1974, Ford granted him a "full, free, and absolute pardon". This ended any possibility of an indictment. Nixon then released a statement:

Within one month, Ford's approval rating dropped from 71% to 49%. Nixon later told a former aide that he felt he was chased out of office by "the establishment" in Washington and leftist elements in the media, as they considered him a mortal threat to their domination of national affairs.

As a result of Watergate, Nixon was disbarred by the state of New York. He had attempted to resign his license, but the state refused to let him do so unless he admitted wrongdoing in Watergate. He later resigned his other law licenses, including one in California.

The evening of the pardon, Nixon experienced great pain in his lower left abdomen and his left leg had swollen to three times its normal size. It was determined that phlebitis, a condition which had afflicted Nixon the previous June, had recurred. Told that he would surely die if he did not go to a hospital, Nixon was taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital.

While Nixon was hospitalized, Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski subpoenaed him to testify before a trial regarding Watergate. Nixon's doctor, John Lungren, said that Nixon could not sustain a flight to Washington because of his condition, because he needed to avoid being seated for prolonged periods. Nixon was released from the hospital on October 4 and soon filed a motion requesting the judge to revoke the subpoena, Dr Lungren filed an affidavit, arguing that the well-being of the former president might be compromised by forcing him to appear at the trial.

On October 23, Nixon was taken back to the hospital after a recurrence of swelling. Doctors found serious vascular blockages and a danger of gangrene; it was feared that blood clots might break loose and travel to his heart or brain with lethal consequences. He underwent four blood transfusions in three hours and suffered severe internal bleeding, along with hypotension.

, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter at the White House, 1981]] By early 1975, Nixon's mental and physical health was improving. Nixon traveled extensively, both domestically and internationally. He was a frequent CB Radio user, which Nixon was not allowed to use while in the White House for security reasons. He took trips to Europe, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, Africa, and Asia. He would visit China four more times.

Rehabilitation

By 1977, Nixon began forming a public-relations comeback effort. In August of that year, he met with British talk-show host and producer David Frost, who paid him $600,000 for a series of sit-down interviews. They began on the topic of foreign policy, recounting the leaders he had known, but the most remembered section of the interviews was that on Watergate. Nixon admitted that he had "let down the country" and that "I brought myself down. I gave them a sword and they stuck it in. And they twisted it with relish. And, I guess, if I'd been in their position, I'd have done the same thing." and denied authorizing payment to the burglars as an incentive for them not to reveal information. Nonetheless, the interviews became well known and were viewed widely across the world, garnering between 45 and 50 million viewers and making them the most watched interviews in the history of television. The encounters were the subject of the 2006 play Frost/Nixon, which became a 2008 film.

He soon published his memoirs, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon and a second book, The Real War. These were the first of ten books he was to author in his retirement, He supported Ronald Reagan for president in 1980, making numerous television appearances portraying himself as, in biographer Steven Ambrose's words, "the senior statesman above the fray." He wrote guest articles for numerous publications and participated in many television interviews. After 18 months in the New York City townhouse, Nixon and his wife moved to Saddle River, New Jersey in 1981. He later embarked on journeys to Japan, China, and the Soviet Union. Author Elizabeth Drew wrote that "even when he was wrong, Nixon still showed that he knew a great deal and had a capacious memory as well as the capacity to speak with apparent authority, enough to impress people who had little regard for him in earlier times." ran a story on "Nixon's comeback" with the headline "He's back."

On July 19, 1990, the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California opened as a private institution, with Nixon and Pat in attendance. They were joined by a throng of people, including Gerald Ford, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, and their spouses Betty, Nancy, and Barbara, respectively. The property was owned and operated by the Richard Nixon Foundation and was not part of the National Archives' presidential libraries system until July 11, 2007, when the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum was officially welcomed into the federal presidential library system. In January 1991, the former president founded the Nixon Center, a policy think tank and conference center.

Pat Nixon died on June 22, 1993 of health problems, including emphysema and lung cancer. Her funeral services were held on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace during the week leading up to her burial on June 26. Richard Nixon was deeply distraught, and broke down in convulsive sobs for the only time in his adult life. Inside the building, he delivered a tribute to her. Some commented that without Pat, Nixon would not "last a year." It was determined that a blood clot resulting from his heart condition had formed in his upper heart, then broken off and traveled to his brain. He was taken to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, initially alert, but unable to speak or to move his right arm or leg. Also in attendance were former Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush and their respective first ladies. Nixon was buried beside Pat on the grounds of the Nixon Library. He was survived by his two daughters, Tricia and Julie, and four grandchildren. Despite heavy rain, police estimated that roughly 50,000 people waited in lines up to 18 hours to file past the casket and pay their respects.

Legacy

No other American has held office in the executive branch of the federal government as long as Richard Nixon did. He is the only person in American history to appear on the Republican Party's presidential ticket five times, to secure the Republican nomination for president three times, and to have been elected twice to both the vice presidency and the presidency. With Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Richard Nixon was the chief builder of the modern Republican party. From 1952 to 1992, at least one of these three men appeared on the Republican ticket for nine of the eleven presidential elections. Throughout his career, he was instrumental in moving the party away from the control of isolationists and as a Congressman was a persuasive advocate of containing Soviet Communism.

Though often referred to as a conservative in politics because of his "Southern strategy" and his victory in numerous southern states in 1968, Nixon had a considerable share of detractors on the right of the political spectrum. Columnist George Will questioned Nixon's conservatism, citing the wage-and-price controls as "the largest peacetime intrusion of government in the economy in American history, surpassing even the dreams of the New Dealers".

Personality and public image

in December 1970 "The President & The King."]] Nixon's career was frequently dogged by his persona, and the public perception of it. Editorial cartoonists and comedians often exaggerated Nixon's appearance and mannerisms, to the point where the line between the human and the caricature version of him became increasingly blurred. He was often portrayed with unshaven jowls, slumped shoulders, and a furrowed, sweaty brow.

Nixon had a complex personality, both very secretive and awkward yet strikingly reflective about himself. He was inclined to distance himself from people and was formal in all aspects, always wearing a coat and tie even when home alone. Conrad Black described him as being "driven" though also "uneasy with himself in some ways." According to Black, Nixon "thought that he was doomed to be traduced, double-crossed, unjustly harassed, misunderstood, underappreciated, and subjected to the trials of Job, but that by the application of his mighty will, tenacity, and diligence he would ultimately prevail." Biographer Elizabeth Drew summarized Nixon as a "smart, talented man, but most peculiar and haunted of presidents." In his account of the Nixon presidency, author Richard Reeves described Nixon as "a strange man of uncomfortable shyness, who functioned best alone with his thoughts". Nixon's presidency was doomed by his personality, Reeves argues: "He assumed the worst in people, and he brought out the worst in them. [...] He clung to the idea of being 'tough'. He thought that was what had brought him to the edge of greatness. But that was what betrayed him. He could not open himself to other men and he could not open himself to greatness".

Nixon frequently brandished the two-finger V sign (alternately viewed as the "Victory sign" or "peace sign") using both hands, an act that became one of his best-known trademarks.

James MacGregor Burns observed of Nixon, "How can one evaluate such an idiosyncratic President, so brilliant and so morally lacking?" George McGovern, Nixon's former opponent, commented in 1983, "President Nixon probably had a more practical approach to the two superpowers, China and the Soviet Union, than any other president since World War II....I think, with the exception of his inexcusable continuation of the war in Vietnam, Nixon really will get high marks in history."

Former president Harry Truman had a low regard for Nixon, stating in 1961: "Nixon is a shifty-eyed goddamn liar, and the people know it." In 1968, he added "He's one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides." Martha Mitchell, the outspoken wife of Nixon's Attorney-General John Mitchell, said of Nixon in 1973, "He bleeds people. He draws every drop of blood and then drops them from a cliff. He'll blame any person he can put his foot on."

In October 1999, a volume of 1971 White House audio tapes were released which contained multiple anti-Semitic statements made by then-President Nixon to his staff and advisors. In one conversation with H.R. Haldeman, Nixon said that Washington was "full of Jews" and that "most Jews are disloyal," making exceptions for some of his top aides. He then added,"But, Bob, generally speaking, you can't trust the bastards. They turn on you. Am I wrong or right?" Nixon also drew connections between Jews and the Communist conspiracy, declaring "the only two non-Jews in the Communist conspiracy were [Whitaker] Chambers and [Alger] Hiss... The only two non-Jews. Every other one was a Jew. And it raised hell with us."

Elsewhere on the 1971 recordings Nixon denies being anti-Semitic, saying, "If anybody who's been in this chair ever had reason to be anti-Semitic, I did... And I'm not, you know what I mean?" plays, audio recordings.

In Oliver Stone's 1995 biopic Nixon he was played by Anthony Hopkins

In the 2008 movie Frost/Nixon directed by Ron Howard he was played by Frank Langella

In the film Secret Honor directed by Robert Altman he was played by Philip Baker Hall

Portrayed favourably in the song The Love of Richard Nixon by Manic Street Preachers - a Welsh rock trio whose members were all age 5 at the time of Nixon's resignation.

His likeness appears in the video game during the "Zombie Mode 'Five'", a single-player or cooperative mode where four players incarnate Nixon, Kennedy, Fidel Castro or Robert McNamara. He is voiced by Dave Mallow.

See also

Samuel Byck, assassination planner

Bibliography

Notes

References

http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html Information on SS Amendments of 1972 and http://www.ssa.gov/history/1970.html

External links

Richard Nixon Foundation

The Nixon Center, Washington, D.C.

Richard Nixon Presidential Library

White House biography

Richard Nixon: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress

The Watergate Tapes

Account of the day Nixon had his fatal stroke in April 1994

Nixon's will

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Name	Glenn Beck
Caption	Beck at the Time 100 Gala, 2010
Birth name	Glenn Edward Lee Beck
Birth date	February 10, 1964
Birth place	Everett, Washington, U.S.
Hometown	Mount Vernon, Washington
Education	Sehome High School
Nationality	American
Occupation	Political commentator, author, media proprietor, entertainer
Salary	US$ 32 million (2009–10)
Spouse	Claire (1983–1994)Tania (m. 1999)
Children	4
Website	http://www.glennbeck.com/
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Residence	New Canaan, Connecticut
Home town	Mount Vernon, Washington

Glenn Edward Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative radio and television host, author, entrepreneur and political commentator. He hosts The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks; and also a cable news show on Fox News Channel. As an author, Beck has had six New York Times-bestselling books, with five debuting at #1. Beck is the founder and CEO of Mercury Radio Arts, a multimedia production company through which he produces content for radio, television, publishing, the stage, and the Internet.

Beck has received wealth and fame, as well as controversy and criticism. His supporters praise him as a constitutional stalwart defending traditional American values from secular progressivism, while his critics contend he promotes conspiracy theories and employs incendiary rhetoric for ratings.

Personal life

Early years

Glenn Lee Beck was born in Everett, Washington, to William and Mary Beck, who lived in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. The family later moved to Mount Vernon, Washington, where they owned and operated City Bakery in the downtown area. He is descended from German immigrants who came to the United States in the 1800s. Beck was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Mount Vernon.

Glenn and his older sister moved with their mother to Sumner, Washington, attending a Jesuit school in Puyallup. On May 15, 1979, his mother drowned in Puget Sound, just west of Tacoma, Washington. A man who had taken her out in a small boat also drowned. A Tacoma police report stated that Mary Beck "appeared to be a classic drowning victim", but a Coast Guard investigator speculated that she could have intentionally jumped overboard.

After their mother's death, Beck and his older sister moved to their father's home in Bellingham, Washington, where Beck graduated from Sehome High School in June 1982. In the aftermath of his mother's death and subsequent suicide of his stepbrother, Beck has said he used "Dr. Jack Daniel's" to cope. At 18, following his high school graduation, Beck relocated to Provo, Utah, and worked at radio station KAYK. Feeling he "didn't fit in," Beck left Utah after six months, taking a job at Washington D.C.'s WPGC in February 1983. The couple divorced in 1994 amid Beck's struggles with substance abuse. A recovering alcoholic and drug addict, Beck has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

By 1994, Beck was suicidal, and imagined shooting himself to the music of his fellow Washingtonian, Kurt Cobain. Beck would later claim that he had gotten high every day for the previous 15 years, since the age of 16.

This was followed by Beck going on a "spiritual quest" where he "sought out answers in churches and bookstores." Beck would be baptized by his old friend, and current-day co-worker Pat Gray.

Beck announced in July 2010 that he had been diagnosed with macular dystrophy, saying "A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor because of my eyes, I can't focus my eyes. He did all kinds of tests and he said, 'you have macular dystrophy ...you could go blind in the next year. Or, you might not." The disorder can make it difficult to read, drive or recognize faces.

Career

]] As an author, Beck has reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List in four separate categories : Hardcover Non-Fiction, Paperback Non-Fiction, and Children's Picture Books.

The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland, Simon & Schuster 2003. ISBN 978-0-7434-9696-4

An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems, Simon & Schuster 2007. ISBN 978-1-4391-6857-8

The Christmas Sweater, Simon & Schuster 2008. ISBN 978-1-4165-9485-7

America's March to Socialism: Why We're One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades, 2008 (Audiobook) An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck, Deseret Book 2008 (Audiobook). ISBN 978-1-59038-944-7

The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 2009. ISBN 978-1-4169-9543-2

America's March to Socialism: Why We're One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades Simon & Schuster Audio 2009 (Audio CD). ISBN 978-0-7435-9854-5

Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Simon & Schuster 2009. ISBN 978-1-4391-6857-8

Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government, Simon & Schuster 2009. ISBN 978-1-4165-9501-4

Idiots Unplugged, Simon & Schuster 2010 (Audio CD). ISBN 1-4423-3396-0

The Overton Window, Threshold Editions 2010. ISBN 1-4391-8430-5 Idiots Unplugged, 2010 (Audiobook) , Simon & Schuster 2010. ISBN 1-4423-3457-6.

Stage shows and speeches

In 2009, the Glenn Beck show was one of the highest rated news commentary programs on cable TV. For a Barbara Walters ABC special, Beck was selected as one of America’s "Top 10 Most Fascinating People" of 2009. In 2010, Beck was selected for the Times top 100 most influential people under the "Leaders" category.

Beck has referred to himself as an entertainer, and a "rodeo clown".

Time Magazine described Beck as "[t]he new populist superstar of Fox News" saying it is easier to see a set of attitudes rather than a specific ideology, noting his criticism of Wall Street, yet defending bonuses to AIG, as well as denouncing conspiracy theories about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) but warning against indoctrination of children by the AmeriCorps program. (Paul Krugman and Mark Potok, on the other hand, have been among those asserting that Beck helps spread "hate" by covering issues that stir up extremists.) What seems to unite Beck's disparate themes, Time argued, is a sense of siege. One of Beck's Fox News Channel colleagues Shepard Smith, has jokingly called Beck's studio the "fear chamber", with Beck countering that he preferred the term "doom room." The progressive watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's (FAIR) Activism Director Peter Hart argues that Beck red-baits political adversaries as well as promotes a paranoid view of progressive politics. Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post has remarked that "Love him or hate him, Beck is a talented, often funny broadcaster, a recovering alcoholic with an unabashedly emotional style."

Critical biographies

In June 2010, investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik released a critical biography titled , with a title mocking Beck's work, Common Sense. In an interview about the book, Zaitchik theorized that "Beck’s politics and his insatiable hunger for money and fame are not mutually exclusive", while stating: "Beck’s true religion is not Patriotism, Mormonism, or Conservatism. His true religion is cross-platform self-marketing ... According to Beck’s worldview, there’s no inherent contradiction between his sophisticated instinct for self-promotion, his propagandist rodeo clown act, his self-image as a media mogul, and his professed belief system. I think he actually believes that God wants him to make a ton of money and become this huge celebrity by fear mongering and generally doing whatever it takes in the media to promote right-wing causes."

In September 2010, Philadelphia Daily News reporter Will Bunch released The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama. One of Bunch's primary theses is that Beck is nothing more than a morning zoo deejay playing a fictional character as a money-making stunt.

Satire, spoof and parody of Beck

Beck has been the subject of mockery and ridicule by a number of humorists. In response to Beck's animated delivery and views, he was parodied in an impersonation by Jason Sudeikis on Saturday Night Live. The Daily Shows Jon Stewart has spoofed Beck's 9-12 project with his own "11-3 project", impersonated Beck's chalk board-related presentation style for an entire show, and quipped about Beck "finally, a guy who says what people who aren't thinking are thinking." Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report satirized Beck's "war room" by creating his own "doom bunker." Through the character Eric Cartman, South Park parodied Beck's television program and his commentary style in the episode "Dances with Smurfs". The Onion, a satirical periodical and faux news site, ran an Onion News Network video "special report" where it lamented that the "victim in a fatal car accident was tragically not Glenn Beck." Meanwhile, the Current TV cartoon SuperNews! ran an animated cartoon feature titled "The Glenn Beck Apocalypse", where Beck is confronted by Jesus Christ who rebukes him as the equivalent of "Sarah Palin farting into a balloon." Political comedian and satirist Bill Maher has mocked Beck's followers as an "army of diabetic mallwalkers", while The Buffalo Beast, named Beck the most loathsome person in America in 2010, declaring "It’s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show."

Public disputes

Several incidents involving Beck and President Barack Obama have resulted in notable public controversy. In response to Obama's remarks on the Henry Louis Gates controversy, Beck argued that Obama has repeatedly shown "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture," saying "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist." These remarks drew criticism, and resulted in a boycott promulgated by Color of Change. In 2009, the boycott resulted in at least 57 advertisers requesting their ads be removed from his programming, to avoid associating their brands with content that could be considered offensive by potential customers. He later apologized for the remarks, telling Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace that he has a "big fat mouth" and miscast as racism what is actually, as he theorizes, Obama's belief in black liberation theology.

In July 2009, Glenn Beck began to focus what would become many episodes on his TV and radio shows on Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs at Obama's White House Council on Environmental Quality. Beck was critical of Jones' involvement in STORM, a left wing non-governmental group, and his support for death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who had been convicted of killing a police officer. Beck spotlighted video of Jones referring to Republicans as "assholes", and a petition Jones signed suggesting that George W. Bush knowingly let the 9/11 attacks happen. In September 2009, Jones resigned his position in the Obama administration, after a number of his past statements became fodder for conservative critics and Republican officials. Time magazine credited Beck with leading conservatives' attack on Jones.

In 2009, Beck and other conservative commentators were critical of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) for various reasons, including claims of voter registration fraud in the 2008 presidential election. In September 2009, he broadcast a series of heavily edited undercover videos by conservative activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, which seemed to portray ACORN community organizers offering inappropriate tax advice to people who said they were engaged in illegal activities. Following the videos' release, the U.S. Census Bureau severed ties with the group while the U.S. House and Senate voted to cut all of its federal funding. Beck's lawyers argued that the site infringed on his trademarked name and that the domain name should be turned over to Beck. The WIPO ruled against Beck, but Eiland-Hall voluntarily transferred the domain to Beck anyway, saying that the First Amendment had been upheld and that he no longer had a use for the domain name.

Websites

As of 2009, GlennBeck.com was estimated to receive 5-million unique visitors per month. and Pat Gray, begun in 2010

Beck University, interactive classes offered beginning in July 2010

In August 2010, Mercury Radio Arts also launched the independent political blog, The Blaze.

See also

Beck University

Conservative talk

List of most-listened-to radio programs

References

External links

Glenn Beck's Official Website

Glenn Beck's Radio Program

Glenn Beck – The 912 Project

Glenn Beck's Common Sense Tour

Official Site at Fox News

Multimedia

A Day in the Life of Glenn Beck - photo slideshow by Time magazine

Katie Couric Interview of Glenn Beck - video by CBS News

"Brand it like Beck" - video interview by Forbes magazine

John Stossel: "Glenn Beck, Conservative Narcissist?" - video by ABC News

Glenn Beck Discusses his Mormonism - video testimonial at The Week

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