For Release: January 14th, 2000
Drawing on recently declassified records and key eyewitnesses, The American Experience "Nixon's China Game" re-creates, step by dangerous step, the events leading up to what Nixon called the week that changed the world. This look at one of the most important events in world history airs on KET at 9/8 p.m. CT Monday, Jan. 31.
In January 1969, just a week into his presidency, Richard Nixon set in motion a secret plan that would reverberate through the White House and throughout the world. After two decades of stony silence between the United States and China--broken only by harsh insults and acrimonious accusations--Nixon wanted to end what he called China's "angry isolation." With National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, the president developed an elaborate scheme to open diplomatic relations between the two nations.
"I recall Henry coming down from the Oval Office," says Alexander Haig, former Deputy National Security Adviser. "'Al, this fellow wants to open relations with China.' I said, 'Not a cold warrior like Nixon.' And Kissinger says, 'I think he has lost control of his senses.'"
In February of 1972, President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing for a historic encounter with Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The diplomatic breakthrough shocked both America's allies and its enemies and is still felt throughout the world today.
"Nixon's China Game" is a Brook Lapping Productions film in association with The American Experience. The American Experience is produced by WGBH/Boston. The program is closed-captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Viewers can find out more about programming on KET by visiting the KET Web site at http://www.ket.org, a Kentucky.com affiliate.
Contact: Todd Piccirilli
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