Face to Face
On February 21, as soon as Air Force One had landed, Mao ordered Chou to bring Nixon around at once. Chou urged that Nixon be taken to his villa first. Mao reluctantly agreed. By 2:30 he could no longer wait and again called Chou. Chou went immediately to Kissinger to tell him that Mao wanted to meet with the president and "fairly soon." Like those other great dictators Stalin and Hitler, Mao was used to making others fit his timetable. His colleagues had long since grown accustomed to sudden meetings in the middle of the night.
Kissinger darted upstairs to get Nixon, and the two men piled into a Chinese limousine, along with Chou En-lai and a Secret Service agent, leaving consternation in their wake (there were, of course, strong concerns about the president taking off with almost no security, staff, doctor etc). Nixon's car was waved through the red walls and drove for a mile past walled houses, the lakes and groves of trees. Mao's house stood alone, "simple and unimposing" in Kissinger's words. "It could have belonged to a minor functionary." There did not appear to be any special security as the car drove up to the front door. In fact, Mao and all the top leaders were constantly under and elaborate and intensive guard.
The Nixon party was motioned toward Mao's study. Only Chinese photographers were on hand to record the scene as Nixon and Mao met for the first time. Mao shuffled toward Nixon, supported by one of his corps of pretty young assistants. Mao took Nixon's hand in his own and shook it warmly for a long time. The photographers made sure they caught this handshake, too.
The conversation, which was originally meant to last for fifteen minutes, lasted for just over an hour. The tone was amicable and, at times, jocular. Mao spoke with difficulty; his words came out in harsh bursts. The Americans assumed that he must have had a stroke. Partway through, Mao seized Nixon's hand again and held it for almost a minute. Nixon was delighted. "The most moving moment," he told his diary.
Nixon, who had prepared carefully for this moment, did his best to talk about the relations between their two countries and about the international scene but Mao waved him off. "Those questions are not questions to be discussed in my place. They should be discussed with the premier. I discuss philosophical questions." Indeed, on the most superficial level, Nixon's now legendary meeting with Chairman Mao on that historic day of February the 21st, 1972 must have seemed little different from typical diplomatic protocol. Whenever the discussion might have moved on to more specifically serious matters, Mao instead opted to speak in hazy, theoretical terms. When both statesmen parted after about an hour, nothing concrete had been decided, no exciting or surprising declarations made. Nonetheless, their meeting stands as one of the most remarkable and historically significant events ever in the field of international relations.