Leading up to 1970

February 1st, 1969: President Nixon sends an official memo from the White House to National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger

"I think we should give every encouragement to the attitude that this Administration is 'exploring possibilities of rapprochement with the Chinese.' This, of course, should be done privately and under no circumstances get into the public prints from this direction" (The Nixon Foundation Archives)

In 1969, President Nixon sent this classified memo to his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, to inform the advisor of his intentions to reinstitute relations with China. Because Nixon feared the potential political backlash of such a move, he aimed for a steady and calculated approach, asking for Kissinger to covertly gain information and perspectives.

June 26th: President Nixon decides to modify certain trade grounds

Kissinger signs a directive that contains President Nixon's intended relaxation of economic controls against China. These modifications included implementing new regulations, creating a press and diplomatic scenario and creating a scenario for Congressional consultation.

The specific actions that President Nixon called for were:

(1) Remove the restraints in the Foreign Assets Control regulations upon foreign subsidiaries of U.S. firms on transactions with China that are regarded as non-strategic by COCOM.

(2) Modify the Foreign Assets Control Regulations prohibiting purchase of Communist Chinese goods to permit Americans traveling or resident abroad to purchase Chinese goods in limited quantities for non-commercial import into the U.S.

(3) Modify the administration of the Foreign Assets Control regulations and Export Controls to permit general licenses for exports of food, agricultural equipment, chemical fertilizer and pharmaceuticals.

(4) Follow these steps, at the earliest appropriate time, by modifying import and export controls in non-strategic goods to permit a gradual development of balanced trade. (National Security Decision Memorandum 17)

These two documents were highly confidential at the time but have since been declassified and made public. Though there were likely many private discussions about the state of China's affairs and whether and how the U.S. should be involved, these two decisions demonstrate the early actions of normalizing relations.