WITH FEAR AND FAVOR: A RISING CHINA THREAT AND THE PATH TO NORMALIZATION, 1954-1971 A Dissertation by JEFFREY PETER CREAN Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Jason Parker Committee Members, Terry Anderson Di Wang William Norris Andrew Johns Head of Department, David Vaught May 2017 Major Subject: History Copyright 2017 Jeffrey Peter Crean ABSTRACT Why did President Richard Nixon visit communist China in February 1972? And why was his July 1971 announcement of that trip the subject of such public euphoria, particularly given the intense antipathy towards the Chinese communists during the previous two decades? To answer these questions, this dissertation travels on two interconnected paths. First, it is the backstage story of a diplomatic revolution, chronicling how initially mid-level and then upper-level Executive Branch officials sought to change first the preconceptions which supported existing China policy, and then the policy itself. Second, it details how first the informed public and then the mass public reversed their once-steadfast positions on this issue, making change not only possible but profitable. The efforts of these officials inspired pundits and academics to call for change, which in turn altered the opinions of prominent senators and congressmen, who went from enforcing the status quo to calling for its upending. Underlying everything, particularly after 1960, was growing fear of a rising China. Now that a hostile communist regime ruling the world’s most populous nation was no longer “a passing phase,” the question of how to come to terms with Chinese power became pressing. A new policy of “Containment Without Isolation” became increasingly popular as a means of taming a powerful China and incorporating it into a U.S.-led global order. ii DEDICATION To my mother and father iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Similar to the events discussed within it, this dissertation began with an idea, before gestating very slowly, and finally concluding with a flourish of activity built upon previous plans, assumptions, and efforts. Its inspiration was an observation of two seemingly contradictory pieces of early 1960s polling data discovered in a book of old Gallup results in the fall of 2008. Everything which followed grew out my initial hypothesis – as encapsulated in this dissertation’s title – that what was seemingly counterintuitive in fact fit together perfectly. Eight years, eighteen archives, and many shelves of books later, this is the result. First and foremost, I would like to thank my adviser Jason Parker, who guided me along the path of turning a scattershot social science notion into a completed work of historical scholarship. Early on in the writing process, he greatly assisted my efforts to organize my voluminous and often disparate evidence and arguments into something coherent. David Villar, John Huntington, Ian Abbey, and Matthew Yokell assisted me in discovering and acquiring relevant cultural sources from the historical period under consideration. Thanks to them, there is more in this work than the fruits of my archival findings, and I believe that is something the reader can appreciate. As for that archival research, I wish to thank Texas A&M University’s College of Liberal Arts, Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Office of Graduate and Professional Studies, and the History Department for their funding assistance. Finally, and most importantly, I wish to thank my parents, Peter and Dorothy, for all iv their help along the way, as well as my sister Tara Crean and her husband Nathan Newman. Ultimately this is the sort of work one must produce alone, though never in isolation. v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES Contributors This work was supervised by a committee chaired by Jason Parker and includes as members, Terry Anderson and Di Wang from the Texas A&M University History Department, William Norris from the Bush School of Government and Public Service, and Andrew Johns from the Brigham Young University History Department. It contains no contributions from individual students or contributions of others. Funding Sources This project was funded by generous support from the Texas A&M University College of Liberal Arts, the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies, and Texas A&M University History Department. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. ii DEDICATION .......................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... iv CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES ..................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: BANNED IN D.C.: RISING POWERS AND BREAKING TABOOS .................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II RECIPE FOR HATE: EISENHOWER’S INTRANSIGENCE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A HOSTILITY SPIRAL ................................. 22 Fragile Colossus .................................................................................................. 25 A Tale of Two Crises .......................................................................................... 31 Negotiations and Debates .................................................................................... 46 Threat and Menace .............................................................................................. 58 Passing and Perpetual Rhetoric ........................................................................... 64 With Apathy and Hostility .................................................................................. 71 CHAPTER III DON’T LET’S START: QUESTIONING CONSENSUS IN THE KENNEDY YEARS ......................................................................................... 77 Yellow Peril Yes, Fifth Column No .................................................................... 81 A Torch Passed .................................................................................................... 91 A Policy Questioned, but Maintained ................................................................. 97 Crucible of Famine .............................................................................................. 106 The Atomic Divorcee .......................................................................................... 115 Going Public ........................................................................................................ 123 The Journey of a Thousand Miles ....................................................................... 128 vii CHAPTER IV BEGIN THE BEGIN: POLICY MAINTENANCE AMIDST A TRANSFORMED DEBATE DURING THE JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION .... 131 First Year Jitters .................................................................................................. 135 A Policy Running to Stand Still .......................................................................... 142 Reading the Tea Leaves ...................................................................................... 151 Watching, Waiting, and Not Hoping ................................................................... 158 Breaking the Silence ............................................................................................ 170 Hurry Up, Then Wait .......................................................................................... 182 CHAPTER V WAITING FOR THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD: THE CHANGING POLITICAL CLIMATE ON CHINA POLICY BETWEEN FULBRIGHT’S HEARINGS AND NIXON’S ELECTION .................................... 186 Confronting an Altered Landscape...................................................................... 190 Powerhouse or Poorhouse? ................................................................................. 197 Eggheads in the Oval Office ............................................................................... 208 Johnson Speaks, Then Hesitates,......................................................................... 217 A Succession Crisis – In the United States ......................................................... 223 Moving the Ball, Then Punting ........................................................................... 228 CHAPTER VI I WILL DARE: NIXON’S JOURNEY TO THE EAST, AND A REPUBLICAN’S ACHIEVEMENT OF DEMOCRATIC DREAMS ..................... 232 Evolution of a Statesman ..................................................................................... 235 Expectations, but Not Great Ones ....................................................................... 243 Reaching Out ...................................................................................................... 251 Red Schism and Yellow Peril .............................................................................. 257 Intellectuals, Red-Baiters, and Political Hacks ................................................... 262 Dancing in the End Zone ..................................................................................... 275 On Second Thought ............................................................................................