President Nixon's Speeches and Toasts during His 1972 Trip to China: A Study in Diplomatic Rhetoric

Abstract

Although hailed by historians and political scientists as a pivotal moment in the reestablishment of U.S.-Sino relations, President Richard Nixon's 1972 trip to China has received little attention from rhetoricians. The toasts and speeches Nixon presented during his trip are important rhetorical artifacts as they illustrate the intricate relationship between diplomatic and epideictic rhetoric. Nixon adroitly employed epideictic diplomatic rhetoric during his 1972 trip to convey diplomatic aims and accomplish deliberative objectives. In so doing, he created a new, positive definition of U.S.-Sino relations, which rhetorically bridged the ideological differences that had separated the nations for more than two decades.

The Problem with Presidential Databases

“…But this speech was not as “uncommon” as the authors seem to imply. By eliminating, through definition, presidential speeches not delivered to the entire nation, the proposed database overlooks such masterpieces of presidential persuasion as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech at Gettysburg on July 3, 1938 (Benson 2002); Truman's Navy Day address of October 27, 1945 (Underhill 1961); Eisenhower's “Atoms for Peace” speech of December 8, 1953 (Medhurst 1987; Parry‐Giles 2006); Kennedy's “American University” address of June 10, 1963 (Kimble 2009); Lyndon Johnson's “Great Society” speech of May 22, 1964 (Zarefsky 1979, 1986); Nixon's speeches in the People's Republic of China during February 1972 (Yang 2011); Ford's speech on the Vietnam War of April 23, 1975 (McMahon 1999); Carter's speech on the Panama Canal of October 22, 1977 (Sudol 1979); Reagan's speech at the Brandenburg Gate of June 12, 1987 (Rowland and Jones 2006); George H. W. Bush's speech “A Whole Europe, A Free Europe” of May 31, 1989 (Hogue 2008); Bill Clinton's speech on race relations of November 13, 1993 (Murphy 1997); George W. Bush's Goree Island address of July 8, 2003 (Medhurst 2010); and Obama's speech at Notre Dame of March 17, 2009 (Arnett 2011). And these are only a sampling of the major presidential speeches left untouched by this database.…”

A big-data analysis of political rhetoric relating the developments of the United States, China, and global powers

“…Further research also stresses the importance of political speeches in shaping not only domestic affairs, but also foreign policy. Michelle Murray Yang's research on President Nixon's speeches in China found that presidential speeches "played a vital role in cultivating a personal and professional relationship" between the U.S. and China (Yang, 2011). These speeches then in turn shape how future leaders decide to frame their speeches on both domestic and foreign policy and how they may convince their audiences (Yang, 2011;Osborne, 1980).…”

“A Journey for Peace”: Spatial Metaphors in Nixon's 1972 “Opening to China”

“…He hoped, Nixon said, that at the end of this journey for peace that he could echo “the words on the plaque which was left on the moon by our first astronauts when they landed there: ‘We came in peace for all mankind’” (Nixon ). Comparing his trip to China with the moon landing highlighted the similarity between the universal goal of peace (Yang , 9) and the physical journey to the PRC. Like the astronauts, Nixon left home to make a groundbreaking visit to a faraway place—and, like the moon, the place carried geopolitical significance.…”

“…It was an earthquake in the Cold War landscape and meant that the Eastern bloc no longer stood firm against the West” (MacMillan , xvi–xvii; cf. Bostdorff ; Dallek ; Kissinger ; Tudda ; Watson ; Yang ). With Nixon's entrance into China, the polarized Eastern and Western blocs that characterized the Cold War were no longer so clearly ideologically or politically separated.…”