On Feb. 17, 1972, President Richard Nixon departed on his historic trip to China, where he met with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai in an attempt to normalize relations between the two countries. The New York Times said that as many as 8,000 congressmen, government officials, newsmen and schoolchildren gathered at the White House lawn to bid Nixon farewell. The president told the crowd, "If we can make progress toward that goal on this trip, the world will be a much safer world, and the chance particularly for all of those young children over there to grow up in a world of peace will be infinitely greater." Nixon was known for his anti-Communist politics. While serving in Congress, he was part of a lobby that urged President Harry Truman not to establish diplomatic relations with Mao's Communist government after it took over China in 1949. China fought American troops during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, after which the United States implemented a trade embargo and pledged its support to the Chinese government-in-exile in Taiwan. Relations between the United States and China remained hostile over the next two decades. However, in the 1960s, China began to distance itself from its Communist ally the Soviet Union, leading to border clashes in 1969. Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, saw an opportunity to play China and the Soviet Union off each other to improve relations with each country. In April 1971, China invited the United States ping-pong team to play in China, marking the first time that Americans had been invited to Communist China. Dr. Kissinger traveled secretly to China that July and met with Zhou Enlai to prepare for a potential presidential visit. On July 15, after Dr. Kissinger's return to Washington, Nixon announced that he would be visiting China the following year. Nixon's anti-Communist reputation allowed him to reach out to Communist countries without appearing "soft" on their ideologies and policies. The Times noted that he was the first president to visit a Communist country - Romania - in 1969 and that he would be the first president to visit China and later Moscow. Nixon arrived in Beijing on Feb. 21 and met with the aging Mao for the first and only time. He spent most of the eight-day trip with Zhou, continuing the negotiations begun by Dr. Kissinger the previous summer. On the final day of the trip, Nixon and Zhou released the Shanghai Communiqué, in which the two countries pledged to pursue normalization of relations and the development of trade. However, the communiqué made little attempt to resolve the issue of Taiwan. In the years after Nixon's visit, the United States and China have opened trade and contacts. In 1979, the United States officially broke relations with the Chinese government-in-exile and established full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Connect to Today: In a 2011 Op-Ed for The Times, two career diplomats, former Ambassadors William H. Luers and Thomas R. Pickering, said President Obama could learn from Nixon's dealings with China in his approach toward Iran. They write that only Mr. Obama "can lead the United States to agreements with Iran that advance American national interests." Consider, too, the authors" final argument: "There is no guarantee that diplomacy will succeed. But that is also true of war. And only diplomacy can offer Iran's current rulers a stake in building a secure future without a nuclear bomb. Only diplomacy can achieve America's major objectives while avoiding the mistakes committed in Iraq or Vietnam. In what ways are United States-Iran relations today similar to those between the United States and China in the early 1970s? How are they different? In your opinion, does the United States run the risk of repeating mistakes committed in previous conflicts? Do you agree that United States foreign policy should rely more on diplomacy than military force? Learn more about what happened in history on Feb. 17 Learn more about Historic Headlines and our collaboration with Finding Dulcinea