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Some of that aura resulted from an expectation of political capital gains back home: images of a peaceable, statesmanlike Reagan, after all, can only help his re-election campaign. From the red-carpet welcoming ceremony in Tiananmen Square to the Reagans' 75-yard stroll on top of the Great Wall, there was a surfeit of what White House Aide Michael McManus called "highprofile presidential visuals." The U.S. press following Reagan numbered 300; TV news made up half that pack. Cracked ABC's acidic Sam Donaldson: "It's all just one big photo opportunity."
It is possible to fly from Washington to Peking in less than 20 hours. But Reagan was in no hurry. He was loose and mellow even by his own easygoing standards. The Reagans took a week getting from the White House to China, putting down for rest stops at their California ranch, in Hawaii and then on Guam.
Hawaii was pure holiday. Although the President carried his three-inch-thick briefing book as he padded to the beach in white bathing trunks Easter Monday, he mostly ignored it. Instead, he tried some broken-field running, using a coconut as a surrogate football, then exhibited a leisurely overhand crawl through the Pacific surf. The scene seemed reminiscent of the pictures from 1966 that purported to show Chairman Mao, then 72, swimming vigorously in the Yangtze River. During their day and two nights in the 50th state (they stop in the 49th, Alaska, this week), Reagan and Nancy chatted with Actors Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.) and Tom Selleck (Magnum, P.I.).
As Reagan headed for the country of the Great Helmsman—Mao—he kept calling himself "the great salesman." Indeed, both sides were most aggressive about pushing the commercial side of international chumminess. "The Pacific Basin is one of our fastest-growing markets," Reagan said at Honolulu's Hickam Field, using the geographical buzzword of the week. "We must work with our friends to keep the Pacific truly peaceful—an ocean for commerce, not conflict."
En route to Guam, Air Force One flight attendants handed out Taiwanese chopsticks ("A mistake," said a White House spokesman). The President slipped on a cool white guayabera shirt, while Nancy looked rather like an empress in her maroon lounging robe. As soon as Air Force One cut through the cloud cover and roared down toward Peking's airport, though, the balmy Pacific interlude was unquestionably over. The Chinese afternoon was dark and unseasonably chilly 54° F). Still, Reagan bounded coatless out of the 707, looking cheery as ever. The 19-mile drive into Peking must have been a sobering, almost allegorical journey: the twelve-limo Chinese-American motorcade sped down Lasting Peace Road, yet on each side lay a desolate, homely landscape.