"I have stated that the National Government cannot rid itself of the idea that it can destroy the Communists by force of arms. At the same time the Communists have shown that they intend to create a one-party totalitarian state. The salvation of the situation, as I see it, would be the assumption of leadership by the liberals in the government and in the minority parties, a splendid group of men, but who as yet have been unable to exercise a controlling influence in the affairs of the nation. My experience leads me to believe that this is one of the greatest tragedies of the situation — a situation which was exacerbated almost inevitably by the incompetency, corruption, and irrelevance of the Kuomintang leadership, which had further deepened the mass disillusionment with the government while failing to reform itself."

General George C. Marshall, personal statement on his mission to China, January 1947. Marshall had spent thirteen months in China as President Truman's special envoy attempting to negotiate a coalition government between the Nationalists and the Communists. The mission failed.