People's Republic of China founded on October 1, 1949, and Magnuson's advocacy for normalized relations begins.

HistoryLink.org Essay 3474 : Printer-Friendly Format

Following Mao Zedong's declaration of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, U.S. Senator Warren G. Magnuson (1905-1989) becomes one of the leading advocates of normalized relations and trade with the new Communist regime.

He risked his political career and reputation in the process, but survived often heated criticism to witness the victory of his views in 1972 and after. In 1973, the Senator, known as "Maggie," visited China as a guest of Premier Chou En-Lai. In 1979 he welcomeed to Seattle the first People's Republic of China ship to visit the United States, and later that year, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.

Sources:
HistoryLink.org: The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, "Magnuson, U.S. Sen. Warren G., and Relations with the People's Republic of China" (by Shelby Scates), http://historylink.org/ (accessed 2001).

By HistoryLink.org Staff, July 30, 2001

Travel through time (chronological order):
< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay >

Related Topics: Government & Politics |

Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.

Sen. Magnuson and PRC Premier Chou En-Lai share a joke in 1973
Courtesy WGM Papers, UW Libraries