Seen from behind, Richard Nixon stands on the snow-dusted Great Wall at Badaling and looks toward watchtowers climbing through the mountains.

24 February 1972 · Colour photographic negative

President Richard Nixon looks at the view from the Great Wall of China

Byron Schumaker, White House Photo Office

Why it matters

The Great Wall photograph reintroduces a much older Western image of China at the moment of strategic opening. The Communist state has not vanished, but presidential travel makes it approachable through a monumental landscape already familiar as the sign of an ancient and enduring civilisation.

Publication
Nixon White House Photographic Office Collection
Holding institution
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Shelfmark
WHPO-8548-12A
Rights
Public domain; United States federal government photograph

Schumaker, Byron. President Richard Nixon Looks at the View from the Great Wall of China, 24 February 1972. White House Photo Office, WHPO-8548-12A. Richard Nixon Presidential Library.