Chapter 179 admonishing minister

On November 28, 1932, Hu Shi and Chiang Kai-shek met for the first time.Hu had a good impression of Jiang. He wrote to Luo Longji saying that Jiang "is a genius with a broad mind, but he is too trivial to be 'little things confused'".At the second meeting, Hu sent Jiang a copy of "Book of the King of Huainan", hoping that Jiang could learn from it the way of governing the country of the "virtual monarch", and educated Jiang on democracy.When they met for the third time, Jiang deliberately prevaricated and perfunctory Hu Da, which displeased Hu Da and lost his goodwill.

In 1938, Hu Shi served as ambassador to the United States. After Wuhan fell, Hu Shi successfully obtained a loan of 25 million US dollars. Chiang Kai-shek called: "The loan is successful, and the whole country is excited."Hu Shi also mentioned a poem to commemorate "I occasionally have a few white hairs, and my mood is slightly approaching middle age. I have become a pawn crossing the river and can only move forward desperately." The civil war entered the late stage, and the rule of the Kuomintang was in jeopardy.Chiang Kai-shek asked Hu Shi to be an official of the Kuomintang. Hu Shi first prevaricated with the words "My wife said when I was on the plane, 'Don't be an official, we will not meet each other if you are an official!'" Oppose" on the grounds of refusal.

In 1948, the national government elected a president and vice president.At that time, Chiang Kai-shek firmly expressed his unwillingness to be president.This matter was beyond the expectations of ordinary people. The Kuomintang held a meeting for several days and made a secret decision, that is, to follow Chiang Kai-shek's favorite President Hu Weiwei, and he himself retired to the deputy seat.This decision was only rumored at the time, and even Hu Shi himself did not believe it.One day, Chen Cunren saw people from Academia Sinica in a mess, and the meeting reached three o'clock in the middle of the night without any results.At 7 o'clock in the morning, the outside room was in a mess again.Chen Cunren was woken up and hurriedly got up. It turned out that sixty military policemen came outside the Academia Sinica to protect Hu Shi.In fact, as early as an hour ago, Hu Shi had secretly left the Academia Sinica and hid in a place unknown to anyone.He expressed his resolute refusal to be president, and later Fu Sinian personally explained to the highest authority that Hu Shi only wanted the National Assembly to be a success and at the same time supported Chairman Chiang as president.In fact, because Hu Shi himself could not be found to admit to running for the election, the matter had to be dropped.

On December 17, 1948, which was the 50th anniversary of Peking University and Hu Shi’s 57th birthday, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling held a birthday feast for Hu Shi and Jiang Dongxiu at their official residence on Huangpu Road in Nanjing.Chiang Kai-shek, who never prepares wine for entertaining guests, specially prepares wine for Hu Shi's birthday, which can be described as an unconventional show of respect.Although Hu Shi was deeply moved by the friendship between Jiang and his wife, when his assistant Hu Songping persuaded him to "do some more foreign aid work for the government" according to Jiang's intention, Hu put on a straight face and said with great displeasure: "This way Such a country, such a government, how can I raise my head and speak to outsiders!"

In January 1949, there were strong calls within the Kuomintang for Hu Shi to be appointed ambassador to the United States and foreign minister. On January 8, Chiang Kai-shek invited Hu Shi to dinner, persuaded him to go to the United States, and said: "I don't want you to be an ambassador, and I don't want you to take on any missions. For example, I don't want you to do it. I just want you to go out and see. "This month, he received a letter from Wu Zhongxin, Secretary-General of the Presidential Palace, and a letter of appointment from the "Presidential Counselor".A few days later, Hu Shi wrote a letter to Wu, declining the post of senior adviser to the presidential palace. On June 30, Hu Shi sent three telegrams in a row, one to Yan Xishan, one to Hang Liwu, and one to Chiang Kai-shek, all firmly resigning from the foreign minister. On August 20, he said in a telegram to Hang Liwu: "My younger brother is absolutely unwilling to be the foreign minister, nor any official position. My younger brother only saw the newly released Chiba White Paper yesterday, and I feel that my so-called defense of injustice and slander , It is really necessary. If the government does not allow me to declare to the outside world that I have not dealt with foreign ministers, will it shut my mouth and bind my feet? This means that Chen Jie, Lin, Bai, and Liu are all grateful."

On April 6, 1949, Hu Shi took a passenger ship from Shanghai to the United States. When the national government was in turmoil, he had no choice but to make his last effort for Chiang Kai-shek, hoping to save the fate of the CCP from sweeping China. On April 21, when Hu Shi arrived in San Francisco, he was greeted by the political reality that the Communist Army had already crossed the Yangtze River and the situation of partial security in the country was shattered. Hu Shi could only cheer up and say, "No matter how difficult the situation is, I will always use moral support for President Chiang Kai-shek."

In 1949, the decline of the Kuomintang in the mainland was out of control. Hu Shi, Lei Zhen and others started a magazine, hoping to use the power of writing to inspire the discouraged soldiers and civilians and save the building from falling.Hu Shi suggested that de Gaulle had a "Free France" during the national crisis, so the current magazine might as well be called "Free China".Lei Zhen immediately relayed this meaning to Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang praised him greatly.But after they all moved to Taiwan, this publication became a sharp weapon to attack the Kuomintang dictatorship, and was finally banned.

On November 19, 1952, Chiang Kai-shek invited Hu Shi back to Taiwan to give lectures in order to create an image of a virtuous corporal. This was a rare scene after Hu Shi went to the United States.Hu Shi took advantage of this atmosphere to boldly say to Chiang Kai-shek: "There is no freedom of speech in Taiwan today. First, no one dares to criticize Peng Mengji. Second, there is no one word to criticize Chiang Ching-kuo. Third, there is no one word to criticize President Chiang. The so-called There is no freedom of speech, so it is 'what is not spoken'." He also emphasized the importance of freedom of speech at the "Free China" 3rd anniversary tea party, mentioning that "those in power should cultivate and encourage legitimate opposition; those in opposition should work hard on their own Take up this responsibility, be a critical minister for the country, and be a critical friend for the government."

In 1958, at the request of Chiang Kai-shek, Hu Shi ended his life in exile in the United States and returned to Taiwan to serve as the president of the Academia Sinica.Chiang Kai-shek not only treated him as a guest of honor, but expressed that he would allocate a sum of money from his own manuscript fee to cooperate with the additional budget of Academia Sinica and help Hu Shi build a house to live in; he also gave a speech at Academia Sinica in person for Hu Shi's inauguration ceremony, saying that Hu Shi's morality and character are noble , fully fulfilling the important task of the dean of Academia Sinica.However, Hu Shi retorted mercilessly on the spot that academics had nothing to do with morality, and that the responsibility of Academia Sinica was still to promote academics. He even repeatedly said that "the president was wrong."

In an article written by Hu Shi on Chiang Kai-shek’s 70th birthday, he told two stories about Eisenhower, and advised Chiang Kai-shek to learn from Ai’s example and try the “ignorance, incompetence, and inaction” mentioned in "Lu Shi Chunqiu".I hope that Chiang Kai-shek will abide by the law and the constitution, restrain himself, and more effectively guarantee freedom of speech. In March 1960, it was the turn of the six-yearly presidential election.At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was 73 years old and had been re-elected once. If he was re-elected, it would obviously violate the Constitution. However, Chiang Kai-shek still made a choice to continue to be in power at the front desk, and said to his subordinates: "I will take you back to the mainland." Hu Shi was extremely dissatisfied with this. .Before the election, he asked Zhang Qun to tell Chiang Kai-shek, hoping that Chiang Kai-shek would not be the third president and establish a "legal and peaceful" transfer of power.He advised the Kuomintang to stop playing the trick of "persuading people to enter".He wrote in his diary that day: "This method is an insult to Mr. Jiang and us ordinary people." Until Chen Cheng told him the result, he still said: "I still hold one out of ten thousand. Hope, I hope there will be a turnaround.”

On September 4, 1960, Lei Zhen, who was running for the opposition party, was arrested and imprisoned.Hu Shi, who was in the United States to participate in the China-US Academic Cooperation Conference, immediately sent a message to Premier Chen Cheng, accusing the move of being unwise, "The government fears and frustrates the opposition movement, and will definitely be accused of destroying freedom of speech, which will make the world laugh ".He also publicly said to foreign reporters that Lei Zhen's spirit of sacrifice in fighting for freedom of speech "is worthy of himself, his friends, and the country."Hu Shi also emphasized that Lei Zhen is definitely an "anti-Communist and patriotic" person, so he "is not rescuing Lei Zhen, but the country." On November 18 of the same year, Hu Shi paid a visit to Chiang Kai-shek and said that Lei Zhen's military trial made him "really shameful" abroad.But Chiang Kai-shek deliberately asked Hu Shi, whether he had heard him tell people that Hu Shi "only believed in Lei Jinghuan, and did not believe in our government" in the past few years?Hu Shilian said that Chiang Kai-shek's words were too heavy, and first moved out what he said when he went to the United States to ask for help, "I have always firmly supported President Chiang with morality", and said helplessly, "If you don't support this government, what other government can you support? If This government has collapsed, where are we going!" After Lei Zhen was imprisoned, Hu Shi stayed away from politics, did not visit the prison, and failed to lead the remaining opposition forces to form a party. In the position of a master of liberalism, Yin Haiguang even severely criticized Hu Shi, making Hu Shi, who valued his reputation and good face, very depressed. He confessed that deep down in his heart, that is, in his mind, he was "in jail" with Lei Zhen; The Chinese diary wrote that in a dream Hu Shi told him that he was worried that the visit to the prison would arouse Chiang Kai-shek's greater suspicion, so he had to hold back.