Forty years after the triumphant summit in China, Leslie H. Gelb, then a diplomatic correspondent, and Winston Lord, then a Kissinger adviser, reflect on what Obama could learn from Nixon’s boldness and creativity. Plus, Winston Lord on Crafting the Shanghai Communique with Kissinger.
Winston Lord, Henry Kissinger’s closest aide, accompanied him and President Nixon to all the China opening meetings. He later served as U.S. ambassador to China from 1985 to 1989. A full accounting of these events can be found in Lord’s State Department Oral History at the Library of Congress website.
Winston Lord recalls how he and Kissinger wrote the ‘Shanghai Communique’ on a 1971 China trip.