Internally wounded, China was also increasingly isolated on a global scale. As border fighting broke out between Chinese and Soviet troops, China found itself pitted against its old ally and still cut off from the Western world by the American policy of containment.
Exploiting The Breach
Enter Richard Nixon. Nixon had made a political reputation after World War II by chasing Communists. He gained national fame by leading an investigation of accused Communist Alger Hiss, and he parlayed that notoriety into eight years as Eisenhower's vice-president. Eisenhower struck a relaxed, affable posture as president; he left strong-arm anti-Communism to Nixon and his secretary of state John Foster Dulles. Nixon again became famous for debating Khrushchev on the merits of capitalism versus communism in a mock-up of a modern kitchen at a Moscow exhibition.
Nixon lost the 1960 presidential race to John F. Kennedy, as well as the 1962 California gubernatorial race. Still, private-citizen Nixon kept up with foreign affairs, and he keenly watched the widening Sino-Soviet rift.
Nixon won the 1968 U.S. Presidential race, and as soon as he took office in 1969, Nixon set his National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger to begin exploiting China's isolation.
