Getting to Beijing: Henry Kissinger's Secret 1971 Trip

As a candidate and in press conferences as president, Richard Nixon argued that the United States and the world would benefit from engaging China. He felt this was intrinsicly important because of China's size and inevitable importance. Nixon also saw China as a useful counterbalance to the Soviet Union. From the first days of his presidency he sought to signal China's leaders that he was willing to talk. The Americans sent private signals through Paris, Warsaw, and via the leaders of Romania and Pakistan. The documents summarized and linked to below detail these efforts which ultimately produced Henry Kissinger's secret trip to Beijing July 9-11, 1971. Kissinger, Nixon's National Security Advisor, flew to Beijing from Pakistan. His meetings there produced an agreement that President Nixon would visit China. Nixon went in February 1972.

These documents are part of the USC U.S.-China Institute's collection of speeches, reports, memos, and images relating to U.S.-china ties. Click here to see other materials. Most of these documents have been declassified over the past decade (click here for National Archives press release). The annotations are by Clayton Dube....