In February 1972, President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger made a trip to China to meet with the Communist Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou En-Lai. They spent one week in China that changed the world. China and the United States had seen each other as enemies for nearly twenty-five years and had very little contact. During that time, the Cold War was progressing and Communism was spreading throughout the world. Nixon’s plan was to improve relations between China and the United States because he believed Asia would not be peaceful if China remained isolated from the rest of the world.
