Richard Nixon was the first president ever to resign (term: 1969-1974) in the history of the United States, the most controversial of all supreme leaders, and the most difficult to understand.
Haldeman, the head of his team, called him "mysterious, inconceivable and difficult to understand." His special assistant, Raymond Price, said he was like Churchill's Soviet Union: a mystery hidden in a riddle of contradictions. For Harry Truman, he thought Nixon was an untrustworthy liar.
"Checkerboard Speech"
Nixon campaigned in 1952. During the campaign, it was revealed that some wealthy businessmen in California were secretly subsidizing Nixon's income as a senator in the form of private donations.
Nixon insisted that the donation was for political expenses, not for his personal expenses. But Eisenhower insisted that his running mates be "as clean as the teeth of a hound," so he advocated removing Nixon from the list of candidates. Nixon had to explain the circumstances of the donation and defend his innocence in a televised address.
This television broadcast attracted widespread attention. In his speeches, the combat-ready senator repeatedly mentioned how humble his origins were, how he rose through the ranks with his own courage, self-restraint and hard work. Talking, talking, the topic turned, and an interesting thing was proposed. "After I was nominated as a candidate, someone did send a gift to my family," he said. It was the day my family left for the campaign and said someone had sent me a package. I'm going to pick it up, guess what?"
Nixon's conversation captivated the audience like a storytelling, and he went on to say: "When I opened the package, it was a crate containing a Spanish long-eared puppy with black and white spots all over its body. My six-year-old daughter, Theresia, liked it so much that she gave it a name called 'chessboard'. Everyone knows that children love dogs. So, no matter what people say, we plan to leave the dog behind. Now that's what I want to say. ”
The American entertainment magazine "Drama Art Daily" immediately ridiculed this "chessboard speech" as the product of rhetoric. Hollywood producer Daryl Zanak said: "This is the most amazing performance I have ever seen."
Nixon himself felt that the speech had failed, and he shed tears for it. "I made a mess of it, and I regret it," he told his friends. ”
He left the TV station, jumped into the car, and collapsed in the seat next to his wife, looking out the window in frustration. He suddenly spotted a burly Irish worker running and jumping next to the car, shouting "Nixon!" Nixon! ”。
"Ahh!" Nixon sighed, "Anyway, we're more or less welcome in the dog world." A frustrated Nixon even thought the worker was a pet lover.
But the development was completely unexpected, thousands of telegrams praising him flooded into the Republican national headquarters, and he was finally left on the list of candidates.
Three years later, when he spoke at a luncheon on the Executive Committee of Radio and Television, he could not help but wittily mention that famous television speech. As he spoke, he leaned over the podium and asked everyone with a grin, "I think you all remember that 'chessboard speech,'" The audience in the audience was snickering. He followed with a smug saying, "Well, I want to reveal some secrets to you," he paused dramatically, "I orchestrated it." ”
After that, people gave him the nickname: "Dick the Trickster" (Dick is Richard's nickname).
"Nixon's New Posture"
Nixon ran for president in 1960 without victory. When Nixon ran again in 1968, a legend about Nixon's "new posture" became a topic of discussion.
"I think Nixon did have a new attitude," the famous columnist Walter Lippmann wrote, "and now he is a more mature, more mature person, no longer desperate to climb the ladder." ”
Nixon himself agreed, asserting that "I also recognize that as one gets older, one always learns something." If I didn't learn anything, I would be worthless. ”
What new did he learn? There are two main points: First, he sees that the communist countries in the world have not formed a rock-solid whole; second, there is a possibility of developing better relations with them.
After being elected president, he made a surprise visit to China and held talks with the country's Communist Party leaders; He attended a meeting at the highest level in Moscow to reach an agreement on the limitation of strategic arms in order to ease the arms race. During his presidency, he made the establishment of world peace one of the major objectives of his governance, and he did make some achievements in that regard.
"Chinese old friend of the people"
In the 50s, our country stood in the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union, but the socialist camp was still smaller than that of the Western capitalist bloc, and we were in the blockade of the West for a long time and did not integrate into the global economy. Plus the rupture of relations with the USSR in the 60s. Such integration into the Western world is a necessary measure to accelerate China's development. In order to integrate into the Western world, only by improving Sino-US relations can we integrate into the world economic system.
At this time, in order to win over China against the Soviet Union, the United States also repeatedly sought to improve relations with China.
In this context, China also sought to engage with the United States, and in 1970 Chairman Mao invited Snow to come to China, and then Mao Zedong met with Snow and invited Snow to Tiananmen to participate in the National Day military parade. Chairman Mao said he hoped that President Nixon would visit China. Snow conveyed that message to the U.S. government. Next, Chairman Mao sent a friendly message to the United States by inviting the US table tennis team to visit China. On April 10, 1971, the U.S. table tennis delegation visited China, becoming the first American to be allowed to enter China since 1949. This leads to the diplomatic activity of ping-pong diplomacy.
Then, on July 9, 1971, Kissinger paid a secret visit to China and reached an agreement on Nixon's visit to China. From February 21 to February 28, 1972, US President Nixon arrived in Beijing for a historic seven-day visit to China, and on February 28, 1972, after repeated consultations, China and the United States issued a Joint Communiqué in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the normalization of Sino-US relations, with the United States recognizing one China and Taiwan as part of China. Important results have been achieved in the development of Sino-US relations.
After Watergate, the Chinese government did not forget his contribution to the friendship between China and the United States, and the mainland government invited him to visit the mainland many times.
During Nixon's visit to China
During Nixon's visit to China
During Nixon's visit to China