Description:

China

Assistant Secretary of State Habib’s Invitations to Beijing Banquets for Secretaries of State Kissinger and Vance

 

This collection of invitations and menus offers a unique view of visits to Beijing (Peking) by American Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger in October 1975 and Cyrus R. Vance in August 1977. Among the items is a menu to a “Farewell Banquet” hosted by Secretary of State Vance at the “Great Hall of the People, Peking.” They were kept by career diplomat Philip C. Habib, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Public Affairs from 1974 to 1976 and as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 1976 to 1978. Among the press members accompanying Kissinger in 1975 was 35-year-old Ted Koppel, who five years later became the founding anchor for "Nightline".

 

Printed invitations and menus in Chinese and English; Typed Room & Car Assignments for Diplomats and Members of the Press, October 1975, August 1977. 20 pp. + 3 envelopes, from 3.5" x 2.5" to 8" x 10.5". Some verso staining from mounting in photo album.  Very good.

 

During his career as National Security Advisor from 1969 to 1975 and as Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977, Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) visited the Chinese capital of Beijing nine times, including his secret trip in July 1971, followed quickly by a more publicized trip in October of that year. In October 1975, Kissinger visited Beijing and met with Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997). In 1978, Deng outmaneuvered Hua Guofeng to become the principal leader of China, a position he held until 1989.

 

Soon after taking office in January 1977, Kissinger’s successor as Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance (1917-2002) planned a trip to China to meet with the new Chairman of the Communist Party of China and Premier of the People’s Republic of China Hua Guofeng (1921-2008), who had succeeded Mao Zedong after Mao’s death in 1976.

 

 

Philip C. Habib (1920-1992) was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in a Jewish neighborhood by Lebanese Maronite Catholic parents. He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1942 with a degree in forestry. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and rose to the rank of captain. After the war, he earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1952. He also took the Foreign Service examination and began a career with the United States Foreign Service in 1949. After service in Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, and South Vietnam, Habib served as chief of staff for the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Talks from 1968 to 1971. He served as Ambassador to South Korea from 1971 to 1974. He then served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Public Affairs from 1974 to 1976 and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 1976 to 1978, when a heart attack forced his resignation. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan called Habib out of retirement to serve as special envoy to the Middle East, where he negotiated a peace that allowed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to evacuate from the city of Beirut, which Israel had besieged. In 1986, Reagan sent Habib to the Philippines to convince Ferdinand Marcos to step down, and then to Central America to negotiate regarding conflict in Nicaragua. Habib supported Costa Rican president Óscar Arias’s peace plan focused on democratization, but Reagan refused to let him meet with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and Habib resigned. Habib died while on vacation in France, and the New York Times described him as “the outstanding professional diplomat of his generation in the United States.”

 

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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