Nixon goes to China

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President Richard Nixon shakes hands with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. President Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong.jpg
President Richard Nixon shakes hands with Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

The phrase "Nixon goes to China", "Nixon to China", or "Nixon in China" [1] is a historical reference to U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China, where he met with Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong. Its basic import is that Nixon's well-established reputation as an anti-Communist "hawk" gave him political cover against domestic criticism for a move that might have been portrayed as conciliating a geopolitical rival. The metaphor is often expressed as the observation "Only Nixon could go to China" or "It took Nixon to go to China".

Contents

Context

The phrase had originated before Nixon's actual visit to China. An early use of the phrase is found in a December 1971 U.S. News & World Report interview with US Senate Democratic Leader Mike Mansfield in a section summary lead that read, "'Only a 'Nixon' Could Go to China." The actual quote from Mansfield, which he prefaces by noting he had heard it said earlier, was "Only a Republican, perhaps only a Nixon, could have made this break and gotten away with it." [2] Nixon had developed an extensive record of opposing communism from his early days in the House of Representatives, including serving on the House Un-American Activities Committee, sponsoring the Mundt–Nixon Bill to require Communist Party members to register with the government, and personally spearheading the prosecution of alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss.

When he met President Nixon, Chairman Mao also joked that "I voted for you during your last election." Nixon laughed and said "you voted for the lesser of two evils," [3] and Mao replied, "I like rightists, I am comparatively happy when these people on the right come into power." [3] [4] [5]

Outcome

Nixon's visit to China and Shanghai Communiqué was of particular significance because it marked the beginning of a thaw in China–United States relations. [6]

Internationally, Nixon's visit played a role in leading to the September 1972 Japan–China Joint Communiqué between Mao Zedong and Kakuei Tanaka. [7] [8] During the negotiation, Mao also stated that he preferred the "rightist" party in Japan as well as the United States. [9]

In politics, economics and history

The Nixon going to China phenomenon has also been compared to a more generic spectrum of left-wing and right-wing policies, and a proposed "Nixon paradox" describing which policies are difficult to implement based on a politician's declared values (left or right primarily). [5] Two theoretical economic models [10] [11] suggest that these surprising policy initiatives can politically benefit the policy initiator. Assuming that politicians who are in power have superior information concerning the effects of policies, if new information is obtained supporting a right-wing shift in policy, a left-wing politician can more credibly signal that the policy is an appropriate course of action than a right-wing politician, because ‘‘voters will infer that the left-wing politician is motivated by objective facts, rather than his party’s natural ideological tendencies’’. [12] This phenomenon was empirically supported in two experiments conducted in Germany and Israel. Politicians who adopt policies that are incongruent with their policy reputation enjoy a more favorable public reaction. [13]

Similar historical events (pre-1972)

Similar political events (post-1972)

The expression was used in the 1991 film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in which "only Nixon could go to China" is quoted by Spock as "an old Vulcan proverb". [28] In the context of the film, itself an allegory of thawing relations between the US and the former Soviet Union, it is given as a reason why James T. Kirk, a character with a history of armed conflict with the Klingons and a personal enmity for them after his son's death, should escort their chancellor to Earth for peace negotiations with the Federation. [29] [30]

See also

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References

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  2. ↑ "A Size-Up of President Nixon: Interview with Mike Mansfield, Senate Democratic Leader". U.S. News & World Report . December 6, 1971. p. 61.
  3. 1 2 Kalb, Marvin (May 9, 2013). The Road to War: Presidential Commitments Honored and Betrayed. Brookings Institution Press. p. 150. ISBN   978-0-8157-2443-8. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Nixon Asserts That Western Rightists Pleased Mao". The New York Times. May 2, 1978. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Cowen, Tyler; Sutter, Daniel (1998). "Why Only Nixon Could Go to China". Public Choice. 97 (4): 605–615. doi:10.1023/A:1004907414530. ISSN   0048-5829. JSTOR   30024450. S2CID   154204997. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
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  9. ↑ "MAO ZEDONG, 'SETTLEMENT OF THE QUESTIONS OF RESTORATION OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN CHINA AND JAPAN STILL DEPENDS ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY'". digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
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  11. ↑ Cukierman, Alex; Tommasi, Mariano (1998). "When Does It Take a Nixon to Go to China?". The American Economic Review. 88 (1): 180–197. ISSN   0002-8282. JSTOR   116824.
  12. ↑ Krueger, Alan B (March 1, 2000). "From Bismarck to Maastricht: The March to European Union and the Labor Compact1This address was prepared for the Adam Smith Lecture at the European Association of Labor Economists in Regensburg, Germany, September 25, 1999.1". Labour Economics. 7 (2): 117–134. doi:10.1016/S0927-5371(99)00042-1. ISSN   0927-5371. S2CID   35271495.
  13. ↑ Sulitzeanu-Kenan, Raanan; Zohlnhöfer, Reimut (March 1, 2019). "Policy and Blame Attribution: Citizens' Preferences, Policy Reputations, and Policy Surprises". Political Behavior. 41 (1): 53–77. doi:10.1007/s11109-017-9441-5. ISSN   1573-6687. S2CID   254935357.
  14. ↑ The Presidents- Andrew Johnson to Arthur 1865–1885. History Channel. 2005. Event occurs at 42:00–42:30. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  15. ↑ Karabell, Zachary (2004). Chester Alan Arthur . The American Presidents Series. New York: Times Books. p.  10. ISBN   9780805069518 – via Internet Archive.
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  18. ↑ Humes, James C. (October 23, 1998). Nixon's Ten Commandments of Leadership and Negotiation: His Guiding ... - James C. Humes - Google Books. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9780684848167. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  19. ↑ Ladley, Eric (August 2002). Nixon's China Trip - Eric Ladley - Google Books. iUniverse. ISBN   9780595239443. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
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  21. ↑ Sunstein, Cass R. (October 8, 2012). "In Praise of Turncoats, Richard Nixon to John Roberts". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 26, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Good leadership is hard to find: John Howard saw the right thing to do for Australia on gun control". April 15, 2016.
  23. ↑ Hoagland, Jim (September 14, 2002). "Bush Delivers on All Counts in Speech, Now It's Up to UN". Eugene Register-Guard. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2020– via Google News.
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  25. ↑ "American's Nuclear Deal with India: Time to Decide". The Economist . August 28, 2008. Archived from the original on August 9, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2008.
  26. ↑ Krauthammer, Charles (June 28, 2012). "Why Roberts Did It". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  27. ↑ Freedman, Lawrence (April 30, 2018). "Trump-Goes-to-Korea Is the New Nixon-Goes-to-China". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on October 31, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  28. ↑ The quote appears at 4:10 in this 4:59 clip from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW9WGibEF04 Archived April 10, 2019, at the Wayback Machine .
  29. ↑ Erdmann, Terry J. (September 23, 2008). Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, and Why. Simon and Schuster. p. 230. ISBN   978-1-4391-1787-3. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  30. ↑ Laurie Mercier (2009). Social History of the United States: The 1970s. ABC-CLIO. p. 372. ISBN   978-1-85109-923-8. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
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