Overview
A Great Wall begins with a 1996 briefing to President Clinton regarding a burgeoning crisis between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, or Taiwan. Chinese intermediate-range ballistic missile testing was scheduled during the run-up to Taiwanese elections in March of that year. While not seen as a prelude to invasion, it was clear that the possibility for accidental escalation and war was real. [1] This threat sets what Robert Kaplan in the New York Review of Books referred to as the somewhat "alarmist" tone for the book. Tyler asserts that war with China was historically very likely at certain flashpoints and remains likely due to the "insoluble problem of Taiwan". [2]
Having established the significance of both the threat of war and the relationship between the United States and China, Tyler returns to the history of American relations with China, including covert conflicts and plans for war. [3] During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, China was viewed as a necessary check on Soviet expansion. Tyler asserts that Nixon's visit to China and the subsequent warming of relations were partially the result of Henry Kissinger's desire to push then Secretary of State William P. Rogers out of the sphere of influence on China policy. [4] Tyler covers the personal infighting in great detail but notes that the outcome was generally positive for both countries.
Tyler is more critical of the Carter and Reagan administrations, noting specifically that the ambiguity which Kissinger and Nixon allowed to foment regarding Taiwan was beneficial to both nations, allowing China and the United States to "disagree while insisting that they didn't". [4] However, Tyler reserves a great deal of criticism for the Clinton administration, whose largely humanitarian policies he feels were unsupported by the facts on the ground. Tyler ends the book where he began, with a "clear [assertion]" that Taiwan is paramount in Sino-American relations. [5]
Henry Alfred Kissinger is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. A Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1938, he became National Security Advisor in 1969 and U.S. Secretary of State in 1973. For his actions negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam, Kissinger received the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize under controversial circumstances, with two members of the committee resigning in protest.
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was a member of the Republican Party who previously served as a representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961. His five years in the White House saw reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first manned Moon landings, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early, when he became the only president to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal.
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist. He started working for The Washington Post as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor.
The relationship between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America has been complex since 1949. After 1980 the economic ties grew rapidly. The relationship is one of close economic ties, as well as hegemonic rivalry in the Asia-Pacific. It has been described by world leaders and academics as the world's most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.
The Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China, also known as the Shanghai Communiqué (1972), was a diplomatic document issued by the United States of America and the People's Republic of China on February 27, 1972, on the last evening of President Richard Nixon's visit to China.
Peter Warren Rodman was an American attorney, government official, author, and national security adviser.
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James Mann is a Washington-based journalist and author. He has written a series of non-fiction books, including three about America's relationship with China and four more about American foreign policy. His group biography about George W. Bush's war cabinet, Rise of The Vulcans, was a New York Times best-seller. As a newspaper journalist, he worked for more than two decades for the Los Angeles Times, where he served as Supreme Court correspondent, Beijing bureau chief, and foreign-policy columnist. Earlier in his career, he worked at The Washington Post, where he took part in the newspaper's Watergate coverage.
The 1972 visit by United States President Richard Nixon to the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an important strategic and diplomatic overture that marked the culmination of the Nixon administration's resumption of harmonious relations between the United States and mainland China after years of diplomatic isolation. The seven-day official visit to three Chinese cities was the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC; Nixon's arrival in Beijing ended 25 years of no communication or diplomatic ties between the two countries and was the key step in normalizing relations between the U.S. and the PRC. Nixon visited the PRC to gain more leverage over relations with the Soviet Union. The normalization of ties culminated in 1979, when the U.S. established full diplomatic relations with the PRC.
Anna Chennault, born Chan Sheng Mai, later spelled Chen Xiangmei, also known as Anna Chan Chennault or Anna Chen Chennault, was a war correspondent and prominent Republican member of the U.S. China Lobby. She was married to American World War II aviator General Claire Chennault.
Robert A. Dallek is an American historian specializing in the presidents of the United States, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. He retired as a history professor at Boston University in 2004 and previously taught at Columbia University, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Oxford University. He won the Bancroft Prize for his 1979 book Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 as well as other awards for scholarship and teaching.
The Lionel Gelber Prize is a literary award for English non-fiction books on foreign policy. Founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber, the prize awards "the world’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs that seeks to deepen public debate on significant international issues." A prize of CA$15,000 is awarded to the winner. The award is presented annually by the Lionel Gelber Foundation, in partnership with Foreign Policy magazine and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.
This bibliography of Richard Nixon includes publications by Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, and books and scholarly articles about him and his policies.
Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, the only U.S. president ever to do so. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, whom he had appointed vice president after Spiro Agnew became embroiled in a separate corruption scandal and was forced to resign. A prominent member of the Republican Party from California who previously served as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nixon took office following the 1968 presidential election, in which he defeated Hubert Humphrey, the then-incumbent vice president. Although he had built his reputation as a very active Republican campaigner, Nixon downplayed partisanship in his 1972 landslide reelection.
Patrick E. Tyler is an author and formerly chief correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of four books: Fortress Israel: The Inside Story of the Military Elite who Run the Country -- and Why They Can't Make Peace, A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East from the Cold War to the War on Terror, A Great Wall: Six Presidents and China, a history of United States-China relations since the 1972 opening by President Richard Nixon, and Running Critical - The Silent War, Rickover and General Dynamics, a history of the United States nuclear submarine program under Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.
On China is a 2011 non-fiction book by Henry Kissinger, former National Security Adviser and United States Secretary of State. The book is part an effort to make sense of China's strategy in diplomacy and foreign policy over 3000 years and part an attempt to provide an authentic insight on Chinese Communist Party leaders. Kissinger, considered one of the most famous diplomats of the 20th century, played an integral role in developing the relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China during the Nixon administration, which culminated in Nixon's 1972 visit to China.
The Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism is an annual literary award for "a journalist whose work has brought public attention to important issues", awarded by the New York Public Library. It was established in 1987 in memory of journalist Helen Bernstein, and there is a cash award of $15,000.
The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide is a 2013 book by American journalist and academic Gary J. Bass about The Blood telegram. The Blood Telegram is a state department dissent memo on American policy during the 1971 Bangladesh genocide sent by Archer Blood the American Consul General to Dhaka, East Pakistan.
The US foreign policy during the presidency of Richard Nixon (1969–1974) focused on reducing the dangers of the Cold War among the Soviet Union and China. President Richard Nixon's policy sought on détente with both nations, which were hostile to the U.S. and to each other. He moved away from the traditional American policy of containment of Communism, hoping each side would seek American favor. Nixon's 1972 visit to China ushered in a new era of U.S.-China relations and effectively removed China as a Cold War foe. The Nixon administration signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union and organized a conference that led to the signing of the Helsinki Accords after Nixon left office.
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China is a 2011 biography about Deng Xiaoping written by Ezra Vogel and published by The Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.
