Nixon announces visit to communist China 1971
During a live television and radio broadcast, President Richard
Nixon stuns the nation by announcing that he will visit communist China
the following year. The statement marked a dramatic turning point in
U.S.-China relations, as well as a major shift in American foreign
policy.
Nixon was not always so eager to reach out to China. Since the
Communists came to power in China in 1949, Nixon had been one of the
most vociferous critics of American efforts to establish diplomatic
relations with the Chinese. His political reputation was built on being
strongly anti-communist, and he was a major figure in the post-World War
II Red Scare, during which the U.S. government launched massive
investigations into possible communist subversion in America.
By 1971, a number of factors pushed Nixon to reverse his stance on
China. First and foremost was the Vietnam War. Two years after promising
the American people “peace with honor,” Nixon was as entrenched in
Vietnam as ever. His national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, saw a
way out: Since China’s break with the Soviet Union in the mid-1960s, the
Chinese were desperate for new allies and trade partners. Kissinger
aimed to use the promise of closer relations and increased trade
possibilities with China as a way to put increased pressure on North
Vietnam–a Chinese ally–to reach an acceptable peace settlement. Also,
more importantly in the long run, Kissinger thought the Chinese might
become a powerful ally against the Soviet Union, America’s Cold War
enemy. Kissinger called such foreign policy ‘realpolitik,’ or politics
that favored dealing with other powerful nations in a practical manner
rather than on the basis of political doctrine or ethics.
Nixon undertook his historic “journey for peace” in 1972, beginning a
long and gradual process of normalizing relations between the People’s
Republic of China and the United States. Though this move helped revive
Nixon’s sagging popularity, and contributed to his win in the 1972
election, it did not produce the short-term results for which Kissinger
had hoped. The Chinese seemed to have little influence on North
Vietnam’s negotiating stance, and the Vietnam War continued to drag on
until U.S. withdrawal in 1973. Further, the budding U.S.-China alliance
had no measurable impact on U.S.-Soviet relations. But, Nixon’s visit
did prove to be a watershed moment in American foreign policy–it paved
the way for future U.S. presidents to apply the principle of realpolitik
to their own international dealings.
(More Events on This Day in History)
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American Revolution
- 1789 Lafayette selected colonel-general of the National Guard of Paris
-
Automotive
- 1903 Ford Motor Company takes its first order
-
Civil War
- 1862 CSS Arkansas attacks Union ships
-
Cold War
- 1971 Nixon announces trip to China
-
Crime
- 1953 A notorious English killer is executed
- 2002 John Walker Lindh accepts plea bargain
-
Disaster
- 1888 Volcano buries victims in fiery mud
-
General Interest
- 1606 Rembrandt born
- 1806 Pike expedition sets out
- 1965 Mariner 4 studies Martian surface
- 1997 Versace murdered in Cunanan killing spree
-
Hollywood
- 1988 Die Hard debuts, makes Bruce Willis a movie star
-
Literary
- 1919 Iris Murdoch is born
-
Music
- 1986 Columbia Records drops country legend Johnny Cash after 26 years
-
Old West
- 1904 The Mad Trapper of Rat River heads for U.S.
-
Presidential
- 1979 Jimmy Carter speaks about a national “crisis in confidence”
-
Sports
- 2003 Tex Schramm dies
-
Vietnam War
- 1964 Goldwater nominated for president
- 1971 Nixon announces a visit to China
-
World War I
- 1918 Second Battle of the Marne begins with final German offensive
-
World War II
- 1941 Garbo makes an appearance
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