winston lord was one of the american aids on the trip.r: today, president nixon is visiting china, the first american statesman to set foot on chinese soil since chairman mao came to power in 19119. frankly many of us were a little disappointed in the arrival arrangements. this was a huge geopolitical event, and we na vely thought that there would be big crowds. in fact, there were just a few people, but then we recognised again that this was in keeping with the realistic fact that we had been enemies for 22 years, and you can't turn the page immediately. and so these two great countries, the most powerful nation on earth visits the most populist nation on earth. i was special assistant to henry kissinger, the national security advisor, and i was in charge of orchestrating and putting together the thick briefing books for the president, for his trip to china. my first impressions that beijing was that it was a very bleak, rather depressing place. it was very drab. everybody was dressed the same. very few cars. mostly bicycles. we arrived

winston lord had a marvelously long oral history he gave said it was a problem.shouldn't over exaggerate it but it was a problem. brian: how may people were you able to talk to them are close to richard nixon? john: i talked to probably a dozen. one of the problems -- i will tell you a story. i talked to his secretary of defense. as i'm talking to him, i say, you were a close friend of jerry ford, who succeeded nixon and pardon him, and a close friend of nixon. did you play any role and nixon's resignation? he said, oh yeah. i told nixon he would be pardoned. everyone has denied throughout the years that there was any deal between jerry and dick and here was mel in his mid-90's telling me this. i asked him to tell me again. finally i said, you are telling me something that is going to be very controversial because there has always been both presidents insisting that there was no deal, and you are saying that you did convey word that he would get a pardon if he resigned. he said, i predicted. i wasn't conveying word. this was my conclusion that i predicted. so wha

winston churchill but the very nature of leadership itself. i hope you will return on april 26 at 6 pm when we welcome former british foreign secretary david owens, now lord owens who will discuss his new book finest hour, the hidden agenda of may 1940 and also the current state of the bricks it. let me take this opportunity to encourage you to learn more about the international churchill society by visiting our website, www. winston churchill.org. members receive a subscription to our quarterly publication of churchill scholarship, finest hour and many other benefits.>> i would like to take a moment to recognize the advisor to general musharraf and elliott burke, advisor to the international churchill society. for making this event possible. born in delhi in 1943 to an urdu speaking family that later migrated to pakistan in the 1947 partition, general pervez musharraf served as president of pakistan 2001 to 2003. general who was at the time the head of the pakistani armed forces came to power as the result of the military to against then prime minister shari. as president, general musharraf supported the us-led war on terror that followed the september 1