Toppled Idol

Great foreign leaders have always evoked strong emotions among Americans. Churchill and Gandhi, Hitler and Stalin--all had precise images, good or evil, and their deaths were cause for sorrow or celebration. With Mao Tse-tung, it is another story. In his lifetime, he was transformed in the public mind from archenemy to a more ambiguous figure who inspired neither hatred nor love, but uneasy admiration.

He embraced too many opposites to be more than partially comprehended: visionary and tyrant, molder of men's souls and master of men's lives, the abstract theoretician ruthlessly presiding over the liquidation of his opponents, the roly-poly uncle of his country dunking in the Yangtze. But Americans had learned to be comfortable with Mao. So long as he lived, China would not be especially friendly; neither would it be overly hostile. Now there is apprehension about which way the country may tilt. Mao's death was like the toppling of a giant, enigmatic idol, and nobody can yet foresee the repercussions.

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