中央电视台国际频道的《今日话题》节目主要由海内外知名人士或专家学者就时事热点和典型的社会文化现象进行对话。我们的“对话”频道—Channel D栏目就是从该节目中撷取最精彩的片段进行加工整理，在浓缩其中智慧的同时也保持了其原本的口语特色，使你如同亲耳聆听他们的谈话。

　　逸云 整理编写

　　Y: Yang Rui, Presenter of the CCTV English Program Dialogue

　　J: Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughter of Richard Nixon

　　D: David Eisenhower, Professor, Foreign Policy Research Institute, grandson of Dwight David Eisenhower

　　Y: Twenty years ago, late US President Richard Nixon visited Beijing in the hope of containing<注1> Soviet influence and bringing an early end to the Vietnam War. Today his daughter Julie Eisenhower and her husband David Eisenhower are here to meet those who witnessed the historic meeting between late President Richard Nixon and late Chairman Mao Tse Tong.

　　Y: I think there are three major events that could produce great impact on you and your family, namely the 1969 withdrawal<注2> of American troops from Vietnam under your father's order, the 1972 normalization of the bilateral ties between China and the US<注3> with your father's historic visit to Beijing, and the farewell speech<注4> on Aug. 9th in 1974 in the White House, on which day your father announced his resignation from politics. Which event do you think has produced the greatest and most serious impact on you and your family?

　　J: I think, without doubt, it's my father's vision of what he called "the new structure of peace in the world". So he would come to the People's Republic of China. When he made that two minutes' announcement on TV on July 15th, 1971, he began with these words, "I have an important development to tell you in our quest for peace in the world." In other words, he knew that going to China was going to change the world structure. So his vision of going to the PRC and having a dialogue with your country is his lasting monument.

　　Y: David, do you feel you are always in the shadow of your eminent family?

　　D: Well, it's a wonderful place to be whether it's a shadow or not. Julie and I married just before President Nixon took office. So we share this adventure which was Richard Nixon's presidency. You asked about the three days and they are all connected in my mind. China is the high point<注5>. He approached the presidency as a mission. To fulfill mission he had a vision to go into the office and fulfilled it when he arrived and shook hands with Zhou Enlai on Feb. 19th, 1972. That marked the moment when China resumed its actual place in world affairs. And this was the grand design that all three were, in our mind, connected with an adventure. It was a shadow and I am pleased to be in it.

　　Y: Many people think that the compromise reached between the US and China over Taiwan involves remarkable diplomatic skills between the former National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger<注6> and our late Premier Zhou Enlai. Were you impressed by the leadership of our late Premier Zhou?

　　J: Not only was I impressed but my father has written about that in his books. Recalling in his book Leaders, he credited Zhou Enlai as the number-one person who deserves praise for making the Shanghai Communique<注7> a possibility. He has tremendous admiration for Zhou as a diplomat<注8> and as a leader. And I invite you to come to California to my father's presidential museum and there you will see in the hall of leaders a statue of Zhou Enlai.

　　D: And in America we got a very strong feel for the importance of Zhou Enlai in China. On our earlier trip—Dwe don't travel a great deal but we've been to China twice and there's been an interval of 27 years since our last trip—the day we left China in 1976 is the day when Zhou's death was announced to Chinese people. And we were in Shanghai at that time. We were the only Americans there. We were able to watch the waves of grief pass over everyone who was around. We grasped<注9> what Premier Zhou meant to China.

　　Y: Julie, President Jiang Zemin met you a couple of days ago. What message did he convey upon the 20th anniversary of our normalization?

　　J: His message was simple and profound<注10>. He said we must have more face-to-face communication. I thought that was a very moving message. He truly believes that the road to peace and the road to respecting other cultures is to sit down with people of other nations and listen to them and talk with them.

　　Y: David, what kind of prospect will you predict in terms of the future relationship between our two countries?

　　D: I think that the relationship between China and the US is one of the most important relationships in the 21st century. What the US and China decide between themselves will probably set the pattern for peace and development in the 21st century. The people-to-people point is a very important one. My grandfather was a lawyer. He was the supreme commander of WWII. And one thing that he understood is that the way to create an enemy out of somebody is to put them at a distance and to deny they are human beings. This is something that doesn't withstand person-to-person contact. So his favorite gift for his 63rd birthday was that he was named chairman of an organization called "People to People," which was formed in his honor. And this is the organization that continues to perform very good work 50 years later.

　　Y: Julie, could you tell us something about your father's book Beyond the Peace? There have been comments that say the book is a political legacy left to American leaders.

　　J: This book was finished two weeks before my father's death. It's his last book. The title of this book is inspired by Chairman Mao at their last meeting in 1976. Chairman Mao asked, "What do you do to achieve peace in the world? Is that your only goal?" And my father answered immediately, "Well, we seek peace with justice." A decade later he decided that in his book—he didn't know it would be his last book—he would address this question: what does a nation do once peace is achieved? And his answer was you must go beyond peace and look at yourself internally and become a strong nation internally and renew what's important to you. That was his legacy to his country.

　　Y: I hate to mention the unpleasant part of the history that disgraced your family but what do you think of the negative impact of your father's resignation on you and your life?

　　J: Well, my father said that the great regret of his life was letting down<注11> the American people because of the mistakes he made during the Watergate<注12> period. And he said, "This is a burden that I'll carry to the day I die." So I think he's a great man who can publicly admit that he has disappointed his followers. But putting that aside, as I travel and meet people, what they remember is that Richard Nixon was a fighter and he didn't let his mistakes and his disappointment consume him. He went on with his life. He wrote nine books after he left the White House and after his resignation. So he stayed in the arena. And that's what is important for everyone. He thought he could play a role in the world's personal diplomacy. He really cared deeply about meeting with foreign leaders and traveled to foreign places. He came to China seven times and there are some beautiful pictures of him when he was 80 years old—his wonderful Chinese hosts helping him downstairs, because he was old. But he kept traveling and he kept coming.

　　Y: And David, how would you comment on Richard Nixon, as president and as an individual American?

　　D: I knew my grandfather very well. And as I got to know Julie and became part of the family, my grandfather who had been president, Nixon being the vice president, talked to me about this man. One of the things I picked up very early is that Nixon was regarded as a kind of "boy genius."

　　Y: Is that part of the reason your grandfather encouraged you to marry Julie?

　　D: No, no...

　　J: Instead, he said "You two are too young to get married."

　　D: But what I recognized almost immediately is that Nixon's presidency would be unprecedented in many ways. We faced many unprecedented problems in the late 70s. So everything about Nixon's presidency was going to be different. The idea of turning up in Beijing was very surprising. And that might be another wise idea like his resignation, which had never happened before. It was also very surprising. He was a pivot<注13> in American history. Nixon was that kind of man who did make<注14> that pivot. And that's his uniqueness to the US and even to the world.