unleash Chiang

English

Etymology

“Unleash Chiang” was originally a slogan from the late 1940s and early 1950s used by anti-communist American hawks for more vigorous aid to Chiang Kai-shek on Taiwan, so as to enable him to counter Mao Zedong, Mao's government and even invade the mainland. Given the relative weakness and of the Republic of China compared to that of the People’s Republic of China, this was originally an absurd and ironic phrase used by their opponents.

This phrase was then used jokingly by George H. W. Bush to either refer to his own weak tennis serve or to rally his tennis partners ("mocking the right-wing nuts of his generation", Brad DeLong 2005). In 2005, Jeb Bush (possibly after having heard his father's tennis cries but not knowing the origin of the phrase) presented Marco Rubio with a golden sword, after telling a story about the mystical warrior "Chang" who "believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society."

Today, the phrase is sometimes used in earnest by some right-wing Americans who like Jeb Bush may be unaware of the phrase's origins and sometimes corrupt it as "unleash Chang".

William Safire (2008) claims, "John Foster Dulles, first Dewey’s and then Eisenhower’s chief foreign policy adviser, was the American most associated with a promise to 'unleash Chiang.'" But there does not seem to be any record of Dulles actually using this phrase. Similarly with attributions to Douglas MacArthur.

Verb

unleash Chiang (third-person singular simple present unleashes Chiang, present participle unleashing Chiang, simple past and past participle unleashed Chiang)

1. (informal, figurative, often ironic or humorous) To release powerful forces and viciously attack.
   • 1955, John McCormack, Congressional Record v. 101‎^[1], page 1238:

     We remember the promise of the present administration to unleash Chiang Kai-shek and his forces, meaning they would return some day to the mainland to liberate China and its people.

   • 1956, Democratic Party, Platforms of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party 1956‎^[2], page 3:

     The Republican Bluster and Bluff. Four years ago the Republican Party boasted of being able to produce a foreign policy which was to free the Communist satellites, unleash Chiang Kai-shek, repudiate the wartime agreements, and reverse the policy of containing Communist expansion.

   • 1990, George Plimpton, The Best of Plimpton‎^[3], page 67:

     A number of other homegrown phrases had developed in the Bush family over the years ... A weak shot elicits the disdainful cry, "Power outage!" The most esoteric is "Unleash Chiang"—from the hue and cry in government circles to allow Chiang Kai-shek to invade the Chinese mainland from Taiwan and which, on the Bush court, refers to a potential source of power.
     "George will look over his shoulder," Barbara Bush explained, "and urge his partner to 'unleash Chiang!'"
     "The interesting thing about these phrases," she went on, "is that they get exported; people take them with them, and off in the distance, from someone else's court, you'll suddenly hear, 'All right now, unleash Chiang!'"

   • 2006, Dorothy Bush Koch, My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush‎^[4]:

     By the way, he still uses a phrase in his tennis games that he picked up in China: "unleash Chiang"—a reference to Chiang Kai Shek, the nationalist leader exiled on Taiwan—as slang for Let's start the game and serve the big one. He had a bit of a weak serve, and it was his way of making fun of it: Time to unleash Chiang!

   • 2012 January 29, Andrew Goldman, Marco Rubio, The New York Times‎^[5]:

     After you became the first Cuban-American speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, in 2006, your mentor, Jeb Bush, presented you with a sword. What was that about?
     Chang is a mythical conservative warrior. From time to time, if there’s a big issue going on, you’d see Jeb say, “I’m going to unleash Chang.” He gave me the sword of Chang.
     From which mythology does this conservative warrior hail?
     I think it’s a Jeb Bush creation.

   • 2026 March 3, Marco Rubio, US Department of State‎^[6]:

     The last point I would make is – and I said this yesterday and I repeat – what’s about to – you’re about to see – we’re going to unleash Chiang on these people in the next few hours and days.