Nixon was the only person who could go to china because he had spent 30 years as -- 25 years as an anticommunist. the most strident anticommunist, he was on the anti-american activities in the 1950s. ran as the coldest of the cold warriors. he opened china. ronald reagan was considered a right wing saber rattling fanatic, anticommunist fanatic. he just slashed and burned any republican that would do deals with the soviet union, any republican that would even talk about arms control, any republican that would even talk about day todd. he could call them weak and ineffective. and ronald reagan f...