Abstract
The touchdown of President Nixon's airplane, the Spirit of '76, at Peking airport on February 21, 1972, marked the end of an era in the foreign relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. This period had persisted from the communist takeover in 1949 to the present. This era was marked by implacable fear and distrust on both sides. | The rapprochement which led to this momentous meeting between President Nixon and Mao Tse-tung should not have been too surprising. There had been several prior indications that the President desired a more normal relationship with the People's Republic of China.