Title Card: To the Summit

Eleventh NEWSCASTER: Good evening. The 37th president of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, is in China, the first American chief executive ever to visit the world's most populous country.

NARRATOR: On February 18, 1972, Richard Nixon began still another remarkable comeback, with a stunning foreign policy success.

Twelfth NEWSCASTER: President Nixon's motorcade is now sweeping toward the city of Peking.

Thirteenth NEWSCASTER: Here comes the motorcade now, as you see.

NARRATOR: The world watched as Richard Nixon drove through a city that few outsiders had seen for nearly a quarter of a century. "He knew," said The New York Times, "that for this journey, no matter what else occurred, he would always be remembered." That afternoon, Nixon was abruptly summoned to see Mao Tse Tung. American television was unaware of the meeting. The only coverage was by Chinese cameramen with black-and-white film. This encounter between Nixon, the career anti-Communist, and Chairman Mao, the leader of the largest Communist revolutionary movement in history, shocked Nixon's old conservative allies. They accused him of surrendering to international Communism. But for Nixon, it was all part of his global strategy. By visiting China, he was beginning to exploit the divisions in the Communist world.

WINSTON LORD, Kissinger Aide: One of Nixon's primary objectives in opening up with China was to give him more leverage with the Soviet Union. These relations were essentially stalled, but soon after the opening with China, the Soviet Union became much more flexible on several fronts. They agreed to a summit meeting with us in 1972 and they began to be more reasonable on various arms control issues.

Mr. COLSON: Nixon enjoyed the power game, probably as much as any president in modern times. He played it very hard and very cleverly and very carefully on the world scene. And he was always thinking strategically and that's one of the qualities that someone has to have in foreign policy.

I mean, you cannot make decisions in foreign policy based on today's circumstance. You've got to think about its ramifications for five, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. And it's like a chess player. You're anticipating six moves ahead if you're a good chess player.

NARRATOR: In the spring of 1972, the North Vietnamese suddenly launched a massive offensive. South Vietnam's forces were overwhelmed. Thousands fled.

If the offensive were not stopped, the war would be lost and with it, Nixon feared, the presidency. But if he ordered a U.S. counterattack, the Soviets might cancel the upcoming arms control summit in Moscow, a vital part of Nixon's grand design. Most of his advisers urged Nixon not to take any action that might jeopardize the summit. Once again, Nixon overruled them.

Mr. LORD: His view was that it would be embarrassing for him to go to Moscow without responding to the North Vietnamese aggression, that he would look weak -- he's talking to Soviet leaders who are providing arms to the North Vietnamese troops who are killing American troops -- so he didn't think the summit was worth it unless he could also show that he was strong within Vietnam itself.

NARRATOR: Nixon ordered the most drastic escalation of the war since 1968, massive sustained bombing of Hanoi and the mining of Haiphong Harbor, risking a full-scale confrontation with the Soviets by putting their supply ships in peril. After explaining his decision to the American people, he made a direct appeal to the Kremlin.

Pres. NIXON: [May 8, 1972] Our two nations have made significant progress in our negotiations in recent months. We are near major agreements on nuclear arms limitation, on trade, on a host of other issues. Let us not slide back toward the dark shadows of a previous age.

We do not ask you to sacrifice your principles or your friends, but neither should you permit Hanoi's intransigence to blot out the prospects we together have so patiently prepared.

NARRATOR: Nixon's gamble paid off. The Soviets did not cancel the summit. On May 22, 1972, Richard Nixon became the first American president ever to set foot inside the Kremlin. Nixon had done what none of his predecessors had been able to do. He had negotiated a treaty in which the two superpowers agreed to slow an arms race that had been accelerating for more than a quarter of a century. It was his greatest achievement.

Two days later, five burglars working for the Committee to Re-Elect Richard Nixon entered the Watergate complex in Washington. They broke into the office of the Democratic National Committee, placed bugs on the telephones and made their escape. But the microphones failed to work. They would have to go back.

Nixon returned from Moscow in triumph. He had almost completed the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, opened the door to China and signed the first nuclear arms limitation treaty since the dawn of the atomic age. He had often said that all he wanted was a life with one more victory than defeat. Now, that victory, a second term as president, seemed his for the asking.

GARRICK UTLEY: [June 17, 1972]Five men wearing white gloves and carrying cameras were caught early today in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. They apparently were unarmed and nobody knows yet why they were there. But I don't think that's the last we're going to hear of this story.