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.
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President Nixon and his advisors on AF1 in route to China
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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.
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Chairman Mao and President Nixon
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WHCA personnel stayed in an approved "hotel"
style building in Hangchou. (That was the proper spelling in that era, along
with Peking instead of Beijing used today. All of the meals were served family
style at round tables seating 8 people and there was a window for each meal. A
small group of Supervisors would remain in work areas when the meal started,
and once the first group was finished, the next group of people would go to the
dining area witch was a screened in Porch. At the end of the hall the screens
had been replaced with temporary vinyl or glass covering. It was VERY cold in
the eating area. The last group of people would arrive, and they would scan all
the other tables. Some serving platters were still piled high with something
that you could not identify. Quick lesson, if the rest of the team left it
there, don't even bother to taste it. We would point to completely empty
serving dishes with just a hint of some kind of sauce and indicate we wanted
more of that item. Still often a mystery, but we avoided tasting a lot of items
that were non-starters. Of course, there was NO selection of anything
"beef" since cows are sacred. We once had a dish that resembled
"beef stew" in a very strange chartreuse sauce, and it was delicious.
We ordered more and it was a big hit. We then asked, "What are we eating?
Found out that I like "Muskrat"! Yak!
Nixon held many meetings with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai during the trip, which included visits to the Great Wall, Hangzhou, and Shanghai.
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The Nixon’s tour the Great Wall of China
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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.
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Letter of Appreciation
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Certificate of Membership
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President's Travel Itinerary
Destinations
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Dates
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Purpose
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Agana Guam
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February 20-21, 1972
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Rest stop in route to China
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Shanghai, Peking, Hangchow
People's Republic of China
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February 21-28, 1972
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State visit; met with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou En-Lai.
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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.
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Agana the Capital of Guam
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B-52 departing Andersen AFB to Vietnam
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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
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R-1051 SSB Receiver
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URT-23 1KW SSB Transmitter
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The WHCA Mini-switchboard
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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.
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 to fly us to HI. 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 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
were all ready for some R&R after spending close to a month preparing and
executing this very historical event.
We received clearance cleared
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.
Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu HI
We stayed in Hawaii for two
days at the Ala Moana hotel on Waikiki in Honolulu both the
El Toro CCT and the Homestead CCT again boarded the aircraft.
When we landed at El Toro MCAS, it was extremely
hot and with typical Marine logic, the Homestead CCT had to stay on the hot
aircraft for almost an hour. While the Customs Agents were discussing the process,
they needed to follow.
We started un-strapping our portion of the equipment
and setting aside the various souvenirs purchased in both Guam and Hawaii there
must have been just about every piece of Sony and Pioneer stereo equipment ever
made on the aircraft. 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, on March 2, 1972 the San Clemente CCT returned to
their home base at El Toro MCAS form Guam and the China trip was over.
The rest of WHCA members were being deferred to
their next stop. There were still both DC
folks bound for AAFB and the Key Biscayne CCT headed to Homestead. By the time they
arrived in Homestead, they had been officially in country for over 7 days, and
still not cleared.
I do not
believe if they ever did clear customs.
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