The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.

Every time there has been an attempt to disturb it, it led to two things. It led to immediate intense conflict with China, and it led to a reaffirmation in the end, because nobody wanted a major confrontation with China to this principle of a "one China" policy within which Taiwan is finding a place now. Its own position has greatly improved since the Nixon policy. It is richer, it is stronger and it is participating in many international organizations.

University politics make me long for the simplicity of the Middle East.

If you control the food, you control a nation. If you control the energy, you control a region. If you control the money, you control the world.

The history of things that didn't happen has never been written.

Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts.

Well it did not make excessive sense to say that 20 million people are the recognized government of a billion people that have their own institutions. We did not change it in the sense that we said this has to end, but there was a U.N. vote that transferred the legitimacy of China from Taiwan to Beijing. Beijing was recognized as the government of all of China. Then, under President Carter, we followed what the U.N. had already done eight years earlier.