He was a dictator that's for sure. However, during those days, China needed a dictator because most Chinese were not educated enough to have democracy. For all his faults, he at least kept the Republic of China intact. When the ROC retreated to Taiwan, the US offered military and finacial aid with the condition that the ROC military should be under US control. Chiang refused resolutely. If he had accpted the US condition, ROC would then be like Souh Korea, with no control over its military and the US would have total control over who and how to run the country. That would be a nightmare for the ROC.