The Nixon Shocks: The Opening to China and New Economic Policy

In just one month, Nixon shook the foundations of both international relations and the global economy. On the evening of 15 July 1971, he appeared on national television to announce that Henry Kissinger, during a secret trip to China, had arranged for him to visit Beijing by May of the following year. 1 After 20 years of often bitter Sino-American estrangement and diplomatic deadlock, Nixon’s broadcast came as a startling surprise both at home and abroad.

It was, according to Dutch radio, ‘the most significant news since World War Two’. 2 Not only did it signify a dramatic step towards a rapprochement between two sworn enemies, but it also opened the way to a new world order no longer frozen in bipolarity. With some cause, Nixon later wrote that his short television appearance had produced one of the greatest diplomatic surprises of the century.

3 At the time, The Washington Post expressed widely held sentiments when it exclaimed that it was ‘flabbergasted at the momentous development’. 4 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.