Chair and Moderator:
Eric Wakin, Hoover Deputy Director and Director of Library and Archives
 
Special Guest Remarks:
Joseph Ma, Director-General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco
Yi-shen Chen, President, Academia Historica, Taiwan
 
Speakers:
Steven M. Goldstein, Harvard University
John F. Copper, Rhodes College
Thomas B. Gold, UC Berkeley
 
An original copy and selected color duplicates of Chiang’s personal diaries will be displayed at the event.

About the seminar:
In the three decades since his death, in 1988, Chiang Ching-kuo, former president of the Republic of China (Taiwan), has been lauded by many Taiwanese politicians and scholars for galvanizing political liberalization in Taiwan. He was revered during his lifetime as a benevolent and humble man of the people who gave up power to set Taiwan on an irreversible course toward vibrant democracy, for which the island is now known internationally. On the other hand, in the minds of many who fought for Taiwanese democracy, Chiang’s seemingly gentle and pliable nature does not negate his role in crushing dissent throughout the period of martial law from the 1950s to the mid-1980s. The personal diaries of Chiang Ching-kuo, which will be made available at the Hoover Archives in February 2020, offer a rare glimpse into the inner world of a man who led Taiwan toward its emergence as one of the most politically and economically vibrant entities in East Asia; oversaw the island’s transition to democracy; and navigated it through an exceptionally challenging period of the twentieth century.