Today in History—February 21: Best Souvenir Ever
On this day in 1972, Richard Nixon became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the People’s Republic of China. Nixon, no doubt thinking about his legacy in these pre-Watergate days, dubbed it “the week that changed the world.”
The trip was the product of months of maneuvering by National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger. After decades of hostility between the two countries, the visit was especially striking coming from Nixon, who had built part of his career capitalizing on the anticommunist fervor of the 1950s Red Scare. To many, the visit looked like a stroke of diplomatic genius.
In the wake of a rift between China and the Soviet Union in the late 1960s, there seemed to be mutual benefit for the U.S. and China to engage in talks. A significant outcome of the Nixon visit was the U.S.’s acknowledgment of a “one-China” policy, which recognized Taiwan as part of China. The visit is widely credited with paving the way for the formal establishment of diplomatic ties in 1979.
But perhaps the most enduring (and definitely the most adorable) deal to come out of that trip was one that was struck not by Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong and President Nixon but by First Lady Pat Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.
Mrs. Nixon accompanied her husband on the trip, and on February 22, she toured Peking (now Beijing) while he met with Chinese leaders. At the Peking Zoo she was visibly captivated by the giant pandas.
Later in the trip, she was sitting next to Zhou Enlai at a state dinner, where she remarked on a panda motif on the table, saying, “Aren’t they cute? I love them.” He responded, “I’ll give you some.”
Two months later, on April 16, 1972, Mrs. Nixon welcomed giant pandas Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. In exchange, the U.S. sent musk oxen Matilda and Milton to China. On the first day of their exhibit, the pandas drew 20,000 visitors.
Pandas can poop and pee 50 times a day.
The National Zoo was home to giant pandas continuously until November 2023, when, amid political tensions, China took back three pandas that had been on loan. Happily, a new deal was struck, and by January 2025 two new pandas called the zoo home.
Panda-monium continues.
- 10: Pandas exhibited at the National Zoo
- 3–5 ounces: A panda’s weight at birth (roughly a stick of butter)
- $0: Cost to visit the National Zoo
- 1848: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
- 1866: Lucy Hobbs Taylor becomes the first woman to earn a dental degree
- 1918: The last known Carolina parakeet dies, at the Cincinnati Zoo
