Freeman on Chairman Mao: A Man of "Great Spiritual Conviction"

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6:24 PM, Mar 6, 2009 • By MICHAEL GOLDFARB

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Matt Welch digs up this quote from the irrepressible Chas Freeman:

Mao Zedong had a force and energy which none but men of equally great spiritual conviction could withstand. His animal appetites, we now know, matched his intellectual vigor. He was an object of adulation to his subjects and of mingled admiration and dread to his subordinates and intimates. While Mao lived, the brilliance of his personality illuminated the farthest corners of his country and inspired many would-be revolutionaries and romantics beyond it.

Few indeed loved Chairman Mao's style of governance, but all but a few of those who despised it most loved the People's Republic he had founded more and hated him less than they feared him.

What does one say?

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