Soong Mai-Ling

American-educated sister-in-law of the influential and infamous Soong banking family, she married Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s chief aide and rising star of the new republic, Chiang Kai-Shek. Her husband rose to govern a repressive and corrupt Nationalist regime which dedicated itself to fighting the more popular Communists. During World War II Madame Chiang spent her energies extracting military assistance from the U.S.A. for the collapsing Nationalist cause.