Political Quotes

“I first visited the People's Republic of China in 1975. I had been Ambassador to India, and, for reasons that were undiscernible at the time, the Foreign Minister of China wished to talk to me as I was on my way home. I received this message from George Bush, who represented our interests there. He was not ambassador. And, oh gosh, he was kept to the end of every line, and he had the smallest compound, and all the help went home at 7 o'clock. But he and Barbara were in good spirits. I made my way up to Tiananmen Square, to two enormous flagpoles. One of them had vast portraits of 19th century German gentlemen: Marx and Engels; the other, a rather Mongol-looking Stalin. They were the vanguard of revolution. At that point, one of the big issues was, When would the fourth Communist Party take place--the fourth in their history? The French Ambassador thought in the spring; the British Ambassador thought June; some said maybe it had been canceled. We were on Tiananmen Square. There was a Great Hall of the People. It had the look of a post office on a Sunday morning. The very week I was there and everyone was thinking about when it would happen, it was happening. That is how secret that world was. Four thousand delegates made their way in and out and voted unanimously. The Foreign Minister succeeded Mao. This was a Communist country. Everybody wore Mao jackets.”