Matt Bevan

Instead of admitting defeat, he declared that he was still president of China, but was just temporarily operating from Taiwan.

And it's easy to understand why he didn't win over the hearts and minds of those 11 million Taiwanese people.

Many of them were still rather upset about the massacre Chiang's forces had committed just two years earlier.

Some Taiwanese resisted, and the revolt was savagely put down.

Many native Taiwanese wanted Taiwan to become an independent country, rejecting both Chiang and Mao.

Many observers point out that if the native Taiwanese had their say today, they'd opt for neither Chiang's nationalists nor Mao's communists.

Chiang was in a difficult spot, squished between the communists on the mainland and supporters of Taiwanese independence on the island.

He was the meat in a very inconvenient sandwich.

So in order to keep his paranoia of being invaded or overthrown at bay, Chiang declared martial law in Taiwan.

There are some political prisoners in Taiwan.

There's an elaborate security system.

Chiang turned Taiwan into a surveillance state facilitated by a huge network of human informants.

The oppressive regime became known as the White Terror.

Over the 40 years it was in place, 140,000 people would be imprisoned and thousands executed for alleged opposition to Chiang's ruling Nationalist Party.

The fact is, you don't know it when you're in trouble until it's too late.

So what did that look like for the people of Taiwan?

Well, for the next part of this story, we need to talk about Popeye.

In 1967, Popeye cartoonist Bud Sagendorf started a new storyline where Popeye and his son start their own country called Popolania.

During the story, Popeye declares he's going to run an election for president of Popolania, where he is the only candidate, and his son the only voter.

He gives a speech saying, fellow Popoladians, if you vote for me, I promises to give you peace, happiness, and spinach in your pots.