When preparing for his historic trip to China in 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon made handwritten notes. Among them were scribblings under the headings “What they want” and “What we want.” Nixon and his talented national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, made history with that trip and by opening to China, a country that had been isolated and disconnected from the United States for decades. Having built much of his political career on opposing communist influence—particularly during his tenure in Congress and as vice president—Nixon possessed the credibility to engage with China without being accused of weakness. For a leader with fewer conservative bona fides, such a bold diplomatic initiative would have been politically untenable.

This paradoxical combination of hawkish reputation and pragmatic diplomacy led to the adage “Only Nixon can go to China,” highlighting the unique circumstances and character that enabled a historic rapprochement.

When preparing for his historic trip to China in 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon made handwritten notes. Among them were scribblings under the headings “What they want” and “What we want.” Nixon and his talented national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, made history with that trip and by opening to China, a country that had been isolated and disconnected from the United States for decades. Having built much of his political career on opposing communist influence—particularly during his tenure in Congress and as vice president—Nixon possessed the credibility to engage with China without being accused of weakness. For a leader with fewer conservative bona fides, such a bold diplomatic initiative would have been politically untenable.

This paradoxical combination of hawkish reputation and pragmatic diplomacy led to the adage “Only Nixon can go to China,” highlighting the unique circumstances and character that enabled a historic rapprochement.

For the isolated Chinese government, a rapprochement with Washington was necessary because the ideological and geopolitical rift between China and the Soviet Union had deepened by the late 1960s and border clashes in 1969 along the Ussuri River only highlighted the increasing hostilities between the two nations. Domestically, China’s economy was also struggling, and improved relations with the United States promised avenues for economic engagement and modernization.

Similar to Nixon and his hawkish views on communism, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is widely known to be hawkish on Iran. He withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and reimposed U.S. economic sanctions under the so-called maximum pressure campaign, claiming that Iran under such an economic chokehold would seek a “better” deal. He also took the unprecedented step of assassinating Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force, in January 2020.

However, despite his harsh rhetoric, Trump has repeatedly claimed that he is not seeking a regime change in Iran and also that he wants to have better relations with the country. On the campaign trail last year, he also identified the use of nuclear weapons as “the single biggest threat to the world.” While in office, he repeatedly tried to talk to Iran’s leadership,........

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