This past week, President Trump finally had his day in the diplomatic spotlight when he hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and declared that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat."

Of course, there was no verifiable proof that the North Koreans had done anything along those lines, but really that's no longer a surprise coming from the Commander in Cheeto.

So we thought this was a perfect opportunity here at This is the President to look at a similar moment in history - when President Nixon announced on July 15, 1971 that he would be scheduling a meeting with the leaders of the People's Republic of China to normalise relations between the two countries.

But this wasn't a sudden event from out of the blue. Nixon's team had been working on this proposal for months. In addition, the Ping Pong Diplomacy incident helped move detente between the two nations quickly forward. This episode features a pair of Nixon phone calls from April, 1971, including one where Nixon mentions the Ping Pong incident, and another from the same day between Henry Kissenger and Nixon where they discuss the China diplomatic moves and Nixon's love of classical music is on full display.

Harmon and Scott also discuss some of the motivations behind North Korea's appearance at the bargaining table and how the Master of the Deal might be getting mastered behind his back and the 1980s.

This episode is brought to you by Words Over Chair Productions and Comedy History 101.

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