Search This Blog

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Presidential Visit To The Peoples Republic Of China (1972)-revised


  Beijing China    
 President and Mrs. Nixon arriving in China

Coordinates:                                   39°54′50″N 116°23′30″E
Country
 China
Settled
 473 BC
Elevation
 43.5 m (143 ft.)
Population    (2009) 
 22,000,000

21 to 28 February 1972 President Nixon Visits China

U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, who at that time considered the U.S. one of its staunchest foes. The visit has become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician.

Improved relations with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China are often cited as the most successful diplomatic achievements of Nixon’s presidency. After World War II, Americans saw relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorating, Russians consolidating communist puppet states over much of Eastern Europe, and China teetering on the edge of communism. Many Americans felt concern that communists might cause the downfall of schools or labor unions. One of the main reasons Richard Nixon became the 1952 Vice-president candidate on the Eisenhower ticket was his strong anti-communism stance. Despite this, in 1972 Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China while in office.

President Nixon and his advisors on AF1 in route to China


From February 21-28, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Almost as soon as the American president arrived in the Chinese capital he was summoned for a meeting with Chairman Mao who, unknown to the Americans, had been ill nine days earlier but was at that point feeling strong enough to meet Nixon. Secretary of State William P. Rogers was excluded from this meeting and the only other American present was National Security Council staffer (and later U.S. Ambassador to China) Winston Lord. To avoid embarrassing Rogers, Lord was cropped out of all the official photographs of the meeting. Although Nixon was in China for a week, this would be his sole meeting with the top Chinese leader.

 Chairman Mao and President Nixon

The Nixon’s arrival in China

Nixon held many meetings with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai during the trip, which included visits to the Great Wall, Hangzhou, and Shanghai.

The Nixon’s tour the Great Wall of China

The Nixon’s tour the Great Wall of China

At the conclusion of his trip, the United States and the PRC Governments issued the Shanghai Communiqué, a statement of their foreign policy views and a document that would remain the basis of Sino-American bilateral relations for many years. Kissinger stated that the U.S. also intended to pull all its forces out of the island of Taiwan. In the communique, both nations pledged to work toward the full normalization of diplomatic relations.


 Letter of Appreciation

Certificate of Membership

President's Travel Itinerary

Destinations
Dates
Purpose
Agana Guam
February 20-21, 1972
Rest stop in route to China
Shanghai, Peking, Hangchow
 People's Republic of
China
February 21-28, 1972
State visit; met with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou En-Lai.

WHCA’s Role in the President’s Trip to China 

On February 10, 1972 the San Clemente CCT departed for Guam which is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. Agana is the island's capital. Our primary mission was to set up a support base that would be able to quickly respond to any personnel or equipment emergencies that might occur during this trip. 

Agana the Capital of Guam

B-52 departing Andersen AFB to Vietnam

We arrived at Andersen AFB early in the morning on February 11, 1972, as soon as we unloaded all of our equipment and got settled in the hotel. We met with some government and military personnel to find locations suitable to install our communication equipment. Andersen was the perfect location because of its tight base security. 

From early 1972, Andersen AFB was the site of one of the most massive buildups of air power in history. The influx of bombers, crews, and support personnel pushed Andersen's military population past 15,000. Over 150 B-52's lined all available space on the flight line. 

We utilized three locations on Andersen to set up the mini switchboards, the crypto equipment in the Comm. Center, and the HF SSB and FM radios. Since the arrival would take place at Andersen and the President and Mrs. Nixon would stay in a nearby private residence. We decided to install Baker/Charlie and Sierra base stations in the same building as the Switchboard and Comm. Center. This would make it an easier installation for the keying lines to the radio consoles and paging system that terminated at the switchboard... 

We installed a URT-23 HF Transmitter with two R-1051 receivers to work with the WHCA people on mainland China. We were given a schedule of specific dates and times that we were allowed to test on our assigned frequencies. Once we completed testing we went to 24hr coverage on all communications activities 


R-1051 SSB Receiver 

URT-23 1KW SSB Transmitter

The WHCA Mini-switchboard

The President arrived on February 20, 1972 and spent the evening on Guam before continuing his flight to mainland China. 

The President, Mrs. Nixon, Dr. Kissinger and a few Staff members arrived in Peking on February 21, 1972 to begin one of the most historic events in history. The President would spend seven days in China, during that period of time the WHCA installations on Guam would be the focal point for most of the communications to and from the President and his Staff. 

The President left China on February 28, 1972 and we immediately started to remove our equipment and got ready to load it on a C-141 returning from China with some WHCA personnel and the Key Biscayne CCT.

Guam became the staging area for all equipment and personnel returning from China. Of course, the C-141 Crew was tired of running shuttles from the three trip locations in China to Guam, so on arrival the aircraft was grounded for repairs and for a new crew was assigned to fly us to HI.

The KBCCT flew directly to Guam from China by the most direct route. Some details are fuzzy, but they remembered the Exchange and Snack Bar were closed on their arrival at Anderson AFB, Maybe they were just tired and ready for a good old American Cheeseburger, however the only food available was a mobile "Hot Dog Cart" in front of the Exchange. and it was bought out in record time!  Those were some nasty hot dogs, but they ate every one of them! When they left China, it was late in the day then when they arrived in Guam the C-141 when they arrived had to be unloaded and then reloaded on the plane that we had loaded with the equipment from the Guam stop. The long flight from China to Gaum plus the 2+ hour time shift gives you a long very day.

We had been on Guam for 35 days and were all anxious to get home, but the Military Customs Officers on Guam had other ideas they read the rules, and they were NOT going to allow anyone to enter the U.S. territory from the People's Republic of China. Since we were on Guam we were not required to go through customs however by sharing the plane with returning WHCA personnel we had to wait while the Customs Officers contacted the State Department in Washington DC. 

The answer was to defer our customs clearance until we reached the U.S. instead of Guam. Finally, The plane was loaded, and we were ready to depart Guam for a couple of days of rest in Honolulu, Hi. We received clearance and departed Guam for Hickam AFB, once again we had a major problem with the C-141. All of the equipment that we loaded on the C-141was deck mounted and not as simple as moving a dozen pallets, so they wanted to fix the aircraft instead of unloading it. The Hickam AFB folks were like the people in Guam, checked the regulations and deferred the Customs clearance to mainland U.S.

We were all ready for some R&R after spending close to a month preparing and executing this very historical event. We stayed in Hawaii for almost three days at the Ala Moana Hotel on Waikiki beach in Honolulu both the El Toro CCT and the Homestead CCT again boarded  the aircraft.

Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu HI

Both the El Toro CCT and the Homestead CCT personal were on the aircraft along with all of the communication equipment from both stops. We landed at El Toro MCAS, and it was very hot and with typical Marine logic, we had to stay on the hot aircraft for almost an hour. While the Customs Agents were discussing the process they needed to follow, the El Toro Team started un-strapping their portion of the equipment, and setting aside all of the PX purchased Sony and Pioneer stereo equipment of this era that they purchased in both Guam and Hawaii. Finally, the El Toro Customs said they would only clear the El Toro team members to remove their equipment and would be  getting off the plane at El Toro, so, March 2, 1972 the San Clemente CCT returned to their home base at El Toro MCAS form Guam and the China trip was over.  

EL Toro Marine Corp Air Station operations

The rest of the personal and equipment were deferred to the next stop. There were both DC folks bound for Andrews Air Force Base (AAFB), and the Key Biscayne CCT headed to Homestead Air Force Base still on board and they were not allowed to deplane at El Toro.

 By the time the Key Biscayne CCT arrived in Homestead, they had been officially in country for over 7 days, and still not cleared by Customs. When the Key Biscayne team arrived at Homestead, they had one member that was a Navy person, and his mind set from folklore was that items purchased via the PX were gray market and had no warranty unless you paid the duty taxes. The Customs guy was so cool. He told him, I don't know how to fill out this paperwork, but I will call my boss. He lives in Ft Lauderdale and will take two hours to get here.

Because there was a pending visit by the President to Key Biscayne there were helicopters ready to take some of the team members to Walkers Cay. These people basically hugged their families, got a new suitcase, and headed out for the weekend. Bottom line is the people from Key Biscayne never did clear customs, the Customs Agent from Fort Lauderdale called his guy and said, just let them in.

Little did I know that in three months I would be transferred to Key Biscayne and live on Homestead Air Force Base. 




No comments:

Post a Comment