THE MAKING OF THE WEEK THAT “CHANGED THE WORLD”: NIXON’S MEDIA STRATEGY FOR THE US-CHINA RAPPROCHEMENT

Abstract

This article examines Nixon’s media policy during his trip to China in 1972. Using archival resources and existing literature, this article reconstructs the Nixon administration’s media strategy from April 1971 to April 1972, the high time of its rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China. It suggests that media management by the Nixon administration was a vital part of Nixon’s China policy and had rendered positive impact on the US-China relations.

Keywords:

• Richard Nixon
• China trip
• political communication
• media management
• government public relations

Notes

1 James Mann, About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clinton (New York: Vintage Books, 1998), 50.

2 See, for example, Robert Ross, ed., China, the United States, and the Soviet Union: Tripolarity and Policy Making in the Cold War (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1993), and Evelyn Goh, “Nixon, Kissinger, and the ‘Soviet Card’ in the US Opening to China, 1971–1974,” Diplomatic History, 29.2 (June 2005), 475–502.

3 See, for example, Yang Kuisong, “The Sino-Soviet Border Clash of 1969: From Zhenbao Island to Sino-American Rapprochement,” Cold War International History, i.1 (August 2000), 21–52; Robert S. Ross, Negotiating Cooperation: The United States and China, 1969–1989 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995); Chen Jian, Mao’s China and the Cold War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002).

4 Yafeng Xia, Negotiating with the Enemy: US-China Talks during the Cold War, 1949–1972 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006).

5 John Anthony Maltese, Spin Control: The White House Office of Communications and the Management of Presidential News (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992); Joseph C. Spear, Presidents and the Press: The Nixon Legacy (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984).

6 See, for example, Memorandum of conversation between Kissinger and Zhou, July 9, 1971, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, 17 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2006) [hereafter, FRUS, 1969–76, 17], 359–97.

7 Message from the Government of the United States to the Government of the People’s Republic of China, May 10, 1971, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 318–19; Henry A. Kissinger, White House Years (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1979), 724.

8 Kissinger, 725.

9 H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994), 317.

10 Kissinger, 734.

11 Memorandum for the President’s File, July 1, 1971, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 355.

12 Margaret MacMillan, Nixon and Mao: The Week that Changed the World (New York, Random House, 2007), 187.

13 Kissinger, 736.

14 Kissinger, 748–49; Memorandum of conversation between Kissinger and Zhou, July 9, 1971, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 359–97.

15 Kissinger, 750–51; Memorandum of conversation between Kissinger and Zhou, July 10, 1971, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 97–431.

16 MacMillan, 201.

17 Remarks to the Nation announcing acceptance of an invitation to visit the People’s Republic of China, July 15, 1971, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Richard Nixon: 1971 (Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1972), 819–20.

18 Robert Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 291–92.

19 Haldeman, 316.

20 Kissinger, 737, 753–54; James B. Reston, Deadline: A Memoir (New York: Random House, 1991), 382.

21 Letter from Kissinger to Haig, July 11, 1971, National Security Council Files [hereafter, NSC Files], Box 1031, Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.

22 Haldeman, 317.

23 William Bundy, A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency (New York: Hill and Wang, 1998), 233.

24 Dallek, 289.

25 Haldeman, 316; Kissinger, 760.

26 Kissinger, 759.

27 Telephone conversation transcript between Kissinger and Reagan, Mansfield, Laird, and Nixon, July 15, 1971, Henry A. Kissinger telephone conversation transcripts [hereafter, Kissinger Telcons], Chronological File, Box 10, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

28 Haldeman, 322.

29 Kissinger, 761.

30 Memorandum from President Nixon to his Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), July 19, 1971, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 459.

31 Transcript of telephone conversation between Kissinger and Haldeman, July 20, 1971, Kissinger Telcons, Chronological File, Box 10, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

32 Leonard A. Kusnitz, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: America’s China Policy, 1949–1979 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984), 137.

33 MacMillan, 202.

34 Memorandum from Jon M. Huntsman to Haldeman, July 19, 1971, Staff Member and Office Files [hereafter, SMOF], H. R. Haldeman, Box 82, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

35 Haldeman, 324.

36 Jonathan Aitken, Nixon: A Life (Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1993), 429.

37 Telephone conversation transcript between Nixon and Kissinger, July 16 and 19, 1971, Kissinger Telcons, Chronological File, Box 10, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

38 Kissinger, 761.

39 Haldeman, 321–22.

40 Memorandum from Haig to Kehrli, August 6, 1971, SMOF Files, H. R. Haldeman, Box 83, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

41 MacMillan, 202.

42 Bundy, 240–41.

43 Kusnitz, 138.

44 Memorandum from Chapin to Haig, September 9, 1971, Kissinger Country Files, Box 88, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

45 Haldeman, 364.

46 Ibid., 364–65.

47 Ibid., 352.

48 Memorandum from Haig to Kissinger, September 11, 1971, Kissinger Country Files, Box 88, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

49 Memorandum from the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon, September 13, 1971, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 482.

50 Haldeman, 353–54.

51 Memorandum from Ziegler, Scali and Elbourne to Chapin, October 7, 1971, President’s Trip Files, Box 500, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

52 Memorandum from Scali to Chapin, October 8, 1971, Kissinger Country Files, Box 87, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

53 Memorandum from Scali to Chapin, October 8, 1971, ibid., Box 87, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

54 Kissinger, 1050.

55 Memorandum from Ziegler, Scali, and Elbourne to Kissinger, October 9, 1971, Kissinger Country Files, Box 87, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

56 Haldeman, 353–55, 365–66, 367; the President’s news conference of September 16, 1971, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Richard Nixon: 1971, 956.

57 Memorandum from Haig to Haldeman, undated, President’s Trip Files, Box 500, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

58 Kissinger, 779; also see Memorandum from the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon, October 29, 1971, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 519.

59 Kissinger, 780.

60 Editorial note, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 495–96.

61 Kissinger, 780–84.

62 Letter from Haig to Walters, November 28, 1971, ibid., Box 499, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

63 See, for example, Letter from Kissinger to Thomas Vail, Publisher and Editor of the Plain Dealer, November 9, 1971, ibid., Box 500, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

64 Memorandum for the Record, November 23, 1971, ibid., Box 499, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

65 Memorandum from Leslie Janka (NSC Staff) to Haig, December 23, 1971, Kissinger’s Country Files, Box 88; Memorandum from Holdridge to Haig, December 29, 1971, ibid., Box 500, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

66 Kissinger, 1049.

67 Joseph C. Spear, Presidents and the Press: The Nixon Legacy (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984), 98.

68 Memorandum from Chapin to Haldeman, February 14, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 92, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

69 MacMillan, 226; Kissinger, 1051.

70 China News Summary No. 16, February 22, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

71 Kissinger, 1051.

72 MacMillan, 17.

73 Haldeman, 410–11.

74 See, for example, conversation between President Nixon and his Assistant for National Security Affairs, February 14, 1972, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 661–72.

75 Haldeman, 411.

76 Kissinger, 1053.

77 “Departure Ceremony for the President’s Trip to the PRC,” undated, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 92, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

78 Memorandum from Mort Allin to Warren Higby, undated, ibid., Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

79 Richard M. Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978), 559.

80 Haldeman, 364.

81 “Nixon Welcome,” February 6, 1972, Kissinger Country Files, Box 88, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

82 Haldeman, 412.

83 Kissinger, 1054–55.

84 Ibid.

85 Haldeman, 412.

86 China News Summary No. 12, February 21, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

87 “The China Trip (Re: Richard Nixon’s Arrival in China),” NBC Evening News for Monday, February 20, 1972, Vanderbilt Television News Archive, <http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID = 822753> [accessed July 20, 2009].

88 China News Summary No. 23, February 25, 1972, ibid., Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

89 “Nixon China Visit/Arrival,” NBC Evening News for Monday, February 21, 1972, Vanderbilt Television News Archive, <http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/tvn-video-view.pl?RC = 462555> [accessed July 20, 2009].

90 China News Summary No. 12, February 21, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

91 “Nixon China Trip/Crowds,” NBC Evening News for Monday, February 21, 1972, Vanderbilt Television News Archive, <http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/tvn-video-view.pl?RC = 462556> [accessed July 20, 2009].

92 Kissinger, 1057.

93 Memorandum of conversation between Nixon and Mao, February 21, 1972, FRUS, 1969–76, 17: 677–84.

94 China News Summary No. 12, February 21, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

95 MacMillan, 94.

96 China News Summary No. 13, February 21, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

97 China News Summary No. 19, February 23, 1972, ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

98 China News Summary No. 13, February 21, 1972, ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

99 “Nixon China Trip/Banquet,” NBC Evening News for Monday, February 21, 1972, Vanderbilt Television News Archive, <http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/tvn-video-view.pl?RC = 462557> [accessed July 20, 2009].

100 Haldeman, 416.

101 China News Summary No. 12, February 21, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

102 Kissinger, 1066.

103 Special Report: “Correspondent’s Debriefing” on China Trip, March 9, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

104 China News Summary No. 22, February 24, 1972, ibid., Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

105 MacMillan, 276, 283–84.

106 Stephen Ambrose, Nixon, Volume Two: The Triumph of a Politician 1962–1972 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989), 514.

107 China News Summary No. 21, February 24, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

108 China News Summary No. 23, February 25, 1972, ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

109 MacMillan, 276.

110 China News Summary No. 19, February 23, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

111 China News Summary No. 22, February 24, 1972, ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

112 China News Summary No. 24, February 25, 1972, ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

113 “Nixon China Trip/Nixon Banquet,” NBC Evening News for Friday, February 25, 1972, Vanderbilt Television News Archive, <http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/tvn-video-view.pl?RC = 462646> [accessed July 20, 2009].

114 MacMillan, 308; China News Summary No. 26, February 26, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

115 Kissinger, 1085.

116 Kissinger, 1091.

117 Kusnitz, 138.

118 Kissinger, 1092.

119 “Communiqué/Nixon-Chou,” NBC Evening News for Sunday, February 27, 1972, Vanderbilt Television News Archive, <http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/tvn-video-view.pl?RC = 462669> [accessed July 20, 2009].

120 Kissinger, 1092.

121 China News Summary No. 28, February 26, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

122 “Arrival Ceremony Andrews Air Force Base,” undated, ibid., Box 92, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

123 MacMillan, 321.

124 Cathy Rogers Franklin, “Public Relations in the White House: News Management by President Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon” (PhD dissertation, Ohio University, 1993), 269.

125 William Safire, Before the Fall: An Inside View of the Pre-Watergate White House (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1975), 411.

126 Ambrose, 519.

127 Memorandum from Chapin to Klein, March 15, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 94, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

128 Memorandum from Stephen Bull to Haldeman, March 15, 1972, ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

129 Memorandum from Scali to Haldeman, March 15, 1972, ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

130 Ambrose, 596–97.

131 MacMillan, 274.

132 Ibid., 321.

133 China News Summary No. 22, February 24, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

134 Patrick Tyler, A Great Wall: Six Presidents and China: An Investigative History (New York: PublicAffairs, 1999), 143–44.

135 The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1997 (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 2000), March 12, 1972.

136 Kusnitz, 139.

137 The Gallup Poll, March 9, 1972.

138 China News Summary No. 28, February 26, 1972, SMOF, H. R. Haldeman Files, Box 118, Nixon Presidential Materials Project.