I feel like I need to do a lot more research, but this is what I have as of now. Also, thank freaking God Agnes has interlibrary loan; without it I simply wouldn’t be able to write this paper!
Thesis: Shifting American political ideals and Nixon’s and Kissinger’s compassionate realist approach enforced Sino-American rapprochement.
“Timeline: Nixon’s China Game.” American Experience: Nixon’s China Game. Public Broadcasting System, 1999. Web. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/china/timeline/timeline6.html>.
This incredibly detailed timeline starts in June, 1945 and ends in April, 1979, and is associated with Nixon’s China Game, a documentary about Nixon visiting China. The timeline outlines each leaders’ political moves and correlates them to the exact date of the occurrence. The level of detail provides evidence that Nixon and Kissinger were, on the American side, the driving factor behind Sino-American Détente.
Bell, Duncan. Political Thought and International Relations: Variations on a Realist Theme. Oxford University Press, 2010.
Bell examines a variety of international relations theories. He unpacks Morgenthau’s interpretation of compassionate realism.
Cohen, Warren. America’s Response to China: An Interpretative History of Sino-American Relations. 1st ed. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, 1971.
America’s Response to China is the standard text on Sino-American relations written by Warren Cohen, a diplomatic historian. The book analyzes trends, conceptions, and concerns from both Chinese and American points of views that have shaped Sino-American policy. This particular edition includes a chapter entitled, “The Response to Chinese Nationalism,” which examines societal American reactions to Chinese Communism in the Cold War era.
Goh, Evelyn. Constructing the U.S. Rapprochement with China, 1961-1974: From ‘Red Menace’ to ‘Tacit Ally.” United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
In Goh’s thesis, she claims that a historically sensitive constructivist approach explains why the United States would be willing to reconcile with China. She shifts the focus away from the power balance between US, Soviet Union, and China, and instead centers her support on the era’s political leadership and social changes. She then concludes that Nixon’s new China policy is a product of compassionate realism.
Hsiao, Gene. Sino-American Détente and Its Policy Implications. 2nd ed. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975.
This compilation of academic writing and analysis gives a variety of viewpoints on Sino-American Détente that was organized after The Asian Studies Program of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Conference. Historical context leading to Nixon’s visit to China is widely debated in each article. Furthermore, Sino-American Détente and Its Policy Implications also provides nine primary sources that directly note the personal interaction between the Chinese and US leadership in late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Some of the most important chapters include “American News Media and China,” “Moscow’s Reaction to Nixon’s Jaunt to Peking,” and “A Future for Taiwan.”
Hsu, Chun-Ye. Sino-American Relations and Détente: Nixon, Kissinger, Mao and the One-China Policy, with special reference to Taiwan. School of International and Community Studies Design and Social Context Portfolio. RMIT. 2008.
This graduate student’s paper focuses on how Taiwan, the One-China policy, and human rights issues played a role in Sino-American reconciliation. He goes into depth in comparing Taiwanese nationalism and American nationalism, which signals why Nixon was willing to push Taiwan aside to reestablish contact with Mainland China.
Mann, James. About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relationship with China from Nixon to Clinton. 1st ed. New York: Vintage, 2000.
About Face was written by ex-Los Angeles Times reporter James Mann, who was newspaper’s bureau chief in Beijing from 1984 to 1987. His work translates a variety of primary sources into prose while trying to capture the personalities of the individuals involved with Sino-American Détente. In doing so, Mann indirectly proves that Kissinger in particular ignored hard realist influenced policy making in favor of compassionate realism.
Nixon’s China Game: A Secret Diplomatic Breakthrough That Shocked and Changed the World. Alexandria, VA: PBS/WGBH, 1999. Video.
An elaborate documentary that follows Kissinger’s interaction with China to prepare for Nixon’s arrival. The video focuses on Kissinger’s compassion and devotion to reinstate formal Sino-American relations, while also providing commentary on shifting American social views from 1949 onward. This film directly addresses how McCarthyism was a direct hindrance to Sino-American relations.
Schaller, Michael. The United States and China in the Twentieth Century. 1st. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1979.
Schaller focuses on Sino-American relations from 1930 on with an emphasis on how American leaders tried to impose on Chinese sovereignty. He goes into depth as to why America would want to “reshape Asia” because of domestic concerns and perceptions of its own needs. This book looks at Sino-American relations and Détente from a historically normative perspective.
Scheuerman, William E. “Was Morgenthau a Realist? Revisiting Scientific Man Vs. Power Politics.” Constellations. 14.4 (2007): 506-530
In this academic article, Scheuerman’s thesis is that Morgenthau was not a true realist. In listing various moments where Morgenthau invokes ethics into his theory. Scheuerman then concludes that Morgenthau is a moralist, citing and explaining compassionate realism as an example of Morgenthau’s liberalist approaches.
Vogel, Ezra., American Assembly. Living with China: U.S. China Relations in the Twenty-First Century. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
Published a number of years after Détente, this compilation looks at how 1970’s policy impacted Sino-American politics for decades after the event. The book is a compilation of academic works surrounding Sino-American relations, presented to The American Assembly in June, 1995. Important chapters include “Domestic Forces and Sino-US Relations,” “Breaking the Impasse over Human Rights,” and “A Growing China in a Shrinking World: Beijing and the Global Order.”
China in International Relations 