If Nixon and Mao Could Change The World…
February 25, 2007Although purely coincidental, it’s somewhat fitting that ChinaRedux’s last post explored the role of neoconservatism in building the gospel of the “China Threat” at the same time as a major work on Richard Nixon’s fateful trip to China in 1972 has been released. Nixon and Mao: The Week that Changed by World, by acclaimed historian Margaret MacMillan (author of Paris 1919) , shows how Nixon’s and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s daring and unexpected diplomatic foray “dazzled their domestic critics, rattled the Soviet Union, impressed allies (despite their exasperation at not having been consulted) and set up an exit strategy for a war [Vietnam] that had become unwinnable,” according to John Lewis Gaddis in his NYT review of the book.
Despite winning acclaim from both side of the aisle for his bold maneuver, a number of conservatives were deeply stung by Nixon’s outreach to Chairman Mao. The famed handshake between the two leaders, in which Mao seemingly held on tight and wouldn’t let go, disgusted conservatives like William F. Buckley, who considered it unbecoming (or worse) for the US to engage with a leader such as Mao. Read the rest of this entry »
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China Threat, Diplomacy, Henry Kissinger, US Defense | 
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Posted by Ben Landy
