The Road to China
On January 1, 1979, the U.S. and China signed a joint communiqué beginning a normalization of relations that included establishing embassies, trade, and cultural exchange. With letters of support from former Presidents Nixon (1913–1994) and Ford (1913–2006), Henry Kissinger (b. 1923), and businessmen with interests in China, Bob Hope became the first American permitted to perform there. Bob Hope on the Road to China, a three-hour telecast, gave viewers like these letter writers the opportunity to see China’s people close-up and to appreciate Hope as “an ambassador of friendship.”
On January 1, 1979, the U.S. and China signed a joint communiqué beginning a normalization of relations that included establishing embassies, trade, and cultural exchange. With letters of support from former Presidents Nixon (1913–1994) and Ford (1913–2006), Henry Kissinger (b. 1923), and businessmen with interests in China, Bob Hope became the first American permitted to perform there. <em>Bob Hope on the Road to China</em>, a three-hour telecast, gave viewers like these letter writers the opportunity to see China’s people close-up and to appreciate Hope as “an ambassador of friendship.”