#Nixon visits china windows#
“From the minute we passed over the coast everybody was gawking out of the windows of the plane for their first look at China. Somehow they prevailed, and he reluctantly allowed one seat for China.”Īpart from the White House pool reporters on Air Force One, the press corps traveled on two specially chartered planes. This is THE international newspaper,’ et cetera. “Nixon had said, ‘Nobody from the Times.’ Somebody on his staff, whether Kissinger or other saner heads, said, ‘You can’t do that. “We’re talking about people who would very happily push their own mothers under the wheels of a plane to get on the trip.”įor his part, Nixon vowed to exclude reporters from the newspapers he most disliked-t he New York Times and the Washington Post. In newsrooms across America, there was intense jockeying among reporters desperate to go.
So you had these two cultural and political giants clashing.”Īfter difficult negotiations conducted primarily by Kissinger, Beijing agreed to issue visas for 87 US journalists and several dozen technicians. The Chinese, of course, had been incredibly paranoiac and secretive and controlling the press completely. “For the President and Kissinger, they wanted this dramatic event to be covered as widely as possible. Initially, Beijing was less than enthusiastic about allowing a large American press contingent.
The following details, excerpted from a forthcoming oral history of American journalists in China, offer behind-the-scenes glimpses at one of the biggest news stories of the twentieth century, from the reporters and handlers who were involved. But while the outlines of the Nixon trip are familiar, the story of how that momentous event was covered is much less well-known. It transformed American and international perceptions of China, generated the public support Nixon needed to change US policy, and laid the groundwork for the Chinese government’s gradual moves to open the country to greater coverage by American media. The coverage was arguably almost as important as the details of the diplomacy. It was also a milestone in the history of journalism: For the first time in decades, the Chinese government accepted dozens of US journalists into the country, and it allowed the most dramatic events-Nixon’s arrival in Beijing, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai’s welcome banquet, Nixon’s visits to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City-to be televised live. Richard Nixon’s visit to China fifty years ago would reshape the global geopolitical map, alter the balance of power in the Cold War, and open the door to a new relationship between the People’s Republic and the United States.
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