Sarah Paine

And the second is determination.

Well, Mao had these things in numerous areas.

He was, I'm going to first discuss Mao the propagandist.

That's how he starts out.

And then I've got what I say here is Mao the social scientist.

But what he was really good is data collection and analysis.

He truly understood the countryside because he collected all sorts of data about it and analyzed it.

And then I will go on to Mao the operational military leader, winning and fighting battles.

And then at the end, I'll talk about Mao the grand strategist, integrating all elements of national power.

So that's my game plan.

That's the simple framework.

And away we go.

All right.

Mao began his public service career as a propagandist.

And if you look at his early biography, he's born in 1893 to a prosperous but not particularly well-educated father who tilled his own land.

Mao hated his father.

And he hated farming, so he left as soon as possible.

After the 1911 revolution, for a little while, he worked as a soldier, didn't like that.

He joined and then dropped out of a series of vocational schools.

He tried being, what was it, a merchant, a lawyer.