Chiang Kai-shek (1st

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Presidents since 1947

Chiang Kai-shek (1st - 5th terms)

Years	Introduction
1887	Born in Fenghua County, Zhejiang Province. Better known in Chinese as Chiang Chung-cheng.
1908	Studies at Japan's Tokyo Shinbu Military Academy, where he joins the Tong-meng Hui (United League) and begins to devote himself to the Chinese revolution.
1924	Appointed Commandant of Whampoa Military Academy.
1926-07	Appointed commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army and launches a military expedition northward.
1928	Succeeds in the Northern Expedition and is elected chairman of the Nationalist Government.
1937-07-07	Leads the country into war against Japanese invasion in the wake of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937.
1941-12	Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, triggering the Pacific War. The ROC joins the Allies in declaring war against Japan. Assumes office of Supreme Commander of the China Theater of Operations.
1943-01	Signs equal treaties with the US and Britain, and terminates American and British extraterritorial rights in China.
1943-10	Issues the Joint Four-Nation Declaration together with the leaders of the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union.
1943-11	Attends the Cairo Conference, where it is decided that Japan should return to the Republic of China the territories conquered by or ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki, including Manchuria, Taiwan, and the Pescadores. Issues joint call with the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union for the establishment of the United Nations.
1948	Elected by the National Assembly as the first ROC President since the implementation of the Constitution.
1949-01	Resigns as President in the wake of the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War triggered by the Communists.
1949-12	The ROC central government relocates to Taiwan.
1950-03	Resumes office as President.
1954	Elected to a second term as President, with Chen Cheng as his vice president.
1960	The National Assembly passes the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion. Elected to a third term as President.
1966	Elected to a fourth term as President, with Yen Chia-kan as his vice president. New provisions added to the Temporary Provisions.
1972	Re-elected together with Yen as President and Vice President.

Presidency in Taiwan (political affairs)

Years	Introduction
1959	Implements local self-government during the early days of his administration in Taiwan. By 1959, seats of local representative bodies and magistrates are directly elected by the electorate, including rural and urban township representatives, provincial assemblymen, village chiefs, county magistrates, and city mayors.
1969	Begins to hold supplementary elections for additional members of the parliament so as to extend the exercise of civil rights from local level to the central government.

Presidency in Taiwan (land reform/economic affairs)

Years	Introduction
1951	Initiates a series of land reforms, which peacefully achieves the goal of equitable distribution of wealth among people. Those reform projects include: adopting the 37.5 percent farm rental reduction policy (under which farm rents are capped at 37.5% of the crop yield), the sale of public farm land to tenant farmers on easy payment terms, the Land-to-the-Tiller Act, the equalization of land rights, and farmland consolidation policies.
1953	Launches the first of five four-year economic development plans, which increase Taiwan's national income, transform Taiwan from an agricultural economy into an industrial one, and power Taiwan's economic miracle.

Presidency in Taiwan (educational policy/foreign affairs)

Years	Introduction
1966	Initiates the Chinese Culture Renaissance Movement, as a result of which much of Chinese culture is well preserved in and promoted by Taiwan.
1968	Extends compulsory education in the ROC from six years to nine, and develops higher education for cultivation of a more sophisticated workforce.
1971-10-25	In the face of the Cold War, the ROC allies with other free-world countries and seeks international support to safeguard the ROC's United Nations membership. However, as a result of an increasingly difficult diplomatic environment, the ROC loses its United Nations membership.
1975-04-05	Dies of illness.

Personal timeline

　　First term of office

1948-04-19	Elected as first President since implementation of the Constitution.
1948-05-10	Promulgates Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion.
1948-08-19	Ministry of Finance implements currency reform, abolishes the fabi (fiat currency) and replaces it with the gold yuan.
1948-12-10	Declares martial law.
1949-01-10	Orders Central Bank to ship its entire gold reserves to Taiwan.
1949-01-21	Announces resignation as President.
1949-04-22	Acts as liaison between KMT and government in his capacity as KMT Director-General.
1949-10-26	Taiwan wins victory in Battle of Kuningtou against Chinese Communists in Kinmen.
1949-12-08	Flies to Taipei from Chengdu.
1949-12-09	Central government is relocated to Taipei.
1950-03-01	Resumes presidency in Taipei.
1950-06-26	Korean War breaks out. U.S. sends its Seventh Fleet to Taiwan Strait to help protect Taiwan and implement the policy of “neutralization of the Straits of Formosa.”
1950-12-29	Requests that Legislative Yuan extend legislators' tenure for one more year.
1951-04-21	US Department of Defense announces plans to dispatch its Military Assistance and Advisory Group to Taiwan to help strengthen the island's defense.
1951-09-08	San Francisco Peace Treaty is signed. ROC not invited to participate in proceedings.
1952-01-23	Presides over first military affairs conference.
1952-04-28	Treaty of Peace between Republic of China and Japan is signed in Taipei.
1952-08-02	ROC and Japan establish embassies in each other's country.
1952-10-31	Concurrently chairs the newly-established China Youth AntiCommunist National Salvation Corps.
1953-01-05	Executive Yuan announces plans to implement “Four-Year Economic Development Plan.”
1953-01-26	Promulgates Land-to-the-Tiller Act.
1953-02-02	The US terminates policy of “neutralization of the Straits of Formosa.”

　　Second term of office

1954-03-22	Re-elected as President.
1954-12-03	Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty is signed in Washington D.C.
1955-04-26	US Seventh Fleet establishes liaison office in Taiwan.
1956-07-07	Construction of Central Cross-Island Highway begins.
1957-10-10	Re-elected as KMT Director-General by the party's 8th National Congress.
1958-08-23	The Chinese Communists shell Kinmen, triggering the August 23 Artillery War [the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis].
1959-08-07	Flood rages throughout central and south Taiwan, comes to be called the August 7 Flood.

　　Third term of office

1960-03-11	National Assembly amends Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion so that the incumbent President and Vice President can be re-elected.
1960-03-21	Elected to third term as President.
1960-05-09	Central Cross-Island Highway opens to traffic.
1960-06-18	US President Dwight D. Eisenhower visits Taiwan, joint communique is signed.
1961-05-05	Meets with General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff, discusses issues regarding military cooperation.
1962-01-12	Administrator of USAID (US Agency for International Development) Fowler Hamilton visits Taiwan to discuss issues regarding US aid.
1962-04-20	Taiwan embarks on agricultural and economic cooperation with 11 African countries.
1963-11-21	Re-elected as KMT Director-General by the party's 9th National Congress.
1964-05-28	US Department of State announces US aid to Taiwan will end in mid-1965.
1965-08	Meets with visiting South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky and discusses cooperation between the two countries.

　　Fourth term of office

1966-01-01	US Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey visits Taiwan.
1966-03-19	National Assembly amends Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion to empower president to establish an organization which will decide policies pertaining to suppression of Communist rebellion.
1966-03-21	Re-elected as President.
1967-02-01	Abolishes National Defense Council and establishes "National Security Council During the Period of Communist Rebellion"instead.
1967-07-01	Taipei City is upgraded to a special municipality.
1968-09-09	Implements the Nine-year Compulsory Education system.
1969-03-26	Promulgates regulations governing supplementary elections for national public office during Period of Communist Rebellion.
1969-04-04	Re-elected as KMT Director-General by the party's 10th National Congress.
1970-01-02	US Vice President Spiro Agnew visits Taiwan.
1970-08-11	South Vietnamese Prime Minister Tran Thien Khiem visits Taiwan.
1971-06-15	Chairs National Security Meeting, issues statement entitled The Stance of Our Nation and Spirit of Our People to call for his fellow countrymen to remain calm, dignified, and self-reliant in the face of adversity.
1971-10-25	UN General Assembly passes resolution 2758, making mainland China the sole representative of China in the UN. The ROC loses its UN membership.

　　Fifth term of office

1972-02-28	US President Richard Nixon and mainland Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai jointly issue the Shanghai Communique.
1972-03-17	National Assembly passes Amendment to the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion,empowering the president to make adjustments in the administrative and personnel organs of the central government.
1972-03-21	Re-elected together with Yen Chia-kan as President and Vice President.
1972-09-29	Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces severance of diplomatic ties with Japan following Japan's establishment of diplomatic relations with mainland China.
1973-12-25	Premier Chiang Ching-kuo announces plans to undertake the nine construction projects in his report to the National Assembly.
1975-04-05	Dies of heart attack at his Shilin residence.