THE THIRD VISIT

* The President wanted my dad to say `Yes`  *

In his endeavor to place his dream baby, the Academy, in the loving care of someone who loved it as much as he did,  the President made his 3rd visit to my dad in the evening after the closed meeting.  Again it was a surprise visit, more surprising than before because it was early before supper time.  He came in saying he couldn’t eat his supper until he saw my dad nodded and said ‘Yes’. Not knowing what was on the President’s mind,  my dad and mom looked at him with bewildered eyes ???   That was exactly what the humorous President wanted, big big question marks in their eyes !!!  When dad and mom were told what it was all about, they all broke out in a hilarious laughter. My mom and dad invited the President to join them in their family supper which he joyfully acceded.  

When supper was over and the party seated comfortably in the living room,  the President confided to my dad the results of the closed meeting – opinions were tied. It was really not easy to make a choice between my dad and Chang – each with as many pros and cons as the other. The preliminary balloting was equally divided.  It was expected that the formal voting at the coming Ministerial Meeting would turn out to be the same. The President, chairing the Meeting, would be asked to cast his final deciding vote.   He said confidentially that he would give his vote to dad, and he wanted him to say “Yes”.  

My dad thanked the President for his gracious friendship and trust. However, my dad said that the president’s deciding vote would cause resentment from Chang’s supports and would risk dividing the country and hence China’s stability and progress. If my dad voluntarily abdicate from the race, therefore a ‘No’, it would ease off tensions between the supporters of the two candidates.   My dad was adamant in putting the ‘country’ before any other considerations. Regrettably, he had to say ‘No’ rather than ‘Yes’ in this case.     My dad went on to say that the Academy was just as much his dream baby, and that he would do all he could to provide the peace and security for the Academy to run smoothly and successfully, so as to bring forth many military leaders and heroes for the Republic.   He fully understood that whoever it was to be the Head of the Academy would be the one holding the reins for the future of China.  He would willingly give away this chance rather than putting the country at risk.

*  My dad officially declined the nomination *

So it came to pass that my dad, at the final Ministerial Meeting, officially declined the nomination to be the Head of the Academy.  The post was therefore entrusted to Chang Kai-Shek.  And as predicted by the President, he became the one holding the reins to the fate of the country.  How good or how bad he had held these reins,  it is up to the Historians to comment.

*  An epilogue to the epilogue *

I couldn’t stop wondering what the impact would have been if my dad had decided otherwise ?!

This brings my stories to an end.  Hopefully my readers will find them interesting.