If there is one thing that Richard Nixon did right it was progressing our relationship with China. After the communists took over China in the 50's, no president really wanted to do anything with them at all and it was really a shock for the public when Nixon announced his intentions to go to China considering just how much he hated communism. General Mao said that he was very impressed with Nixon and the way he carried himself and nothing but good things happened while Nixon stayed in China. One thing that people don't realize is that this was a huge shock for the world because it was one of the first times a Communist leader was face to face with an american president. Due to the success of Nixon's meeting, Russia got nervous about the US forming an alliance with China and yielded to a detente with America shortly after Nixon returned.