| This dissertation examined the activities of five American organizations which advocated diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China by the United States from 1945 to 1979. Since James Rosenau believes that interest groups perform four functions in foreign policy-making in a democracy--vetoing or suggesting policy alternatives; consulting or advising public officials on issues or impacts; articulating choices to the public; and calling attention to policy questions by bringing them up for discussion--this dissertation sought to determine whether organizations performed these functions while addressing the unusual, controversial, and resistant issue of American relations with the People's Republic. The question of whether direct contacts with the People's Republic were important resources to the organizations was investigated. Information that could suggest or confirm the impact organizations had on the decision to recognize China was also sought.;Personal interviews and correspondence with activists, founders, officers, and staff members of the organizations were done. Archives, files, memoirs, publications, and similar sources (some heretofore not made public) were consulted to discover the rationale, nature, and extent of activities conducted on behalf of recognition. Relevant public documents and official accounts were consulted to ascertain any nexus between groups and decision-makers.;In general, the groups performed the functions outlined by Rosenau, although his approach does not take into account the severe sanctions imposed on some organizations, nor the cumulative nature of progress on this issue. Education of the public was the primary activity of the groups. Organizations developed sound alternatives to nonrecognition, presented them to the public and to officials. The Committee for a Democractic Far Eastern Policy, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and the Friends Committee for National Legislation enjoyed consultation with officials, more so than the other groups. Many of the activists interviewed were undeterred by opposition and persevered because they felt American interests would be better served by official relations with China. Contacts with citizens of the People's Republic were resources valuable primarily to the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations; contacts were valuable to individual activists in all organizations.;Conclusions regarding the impact these groups had on the eventual recognition of China was difficult to assess. The groups were a positive presence urging relations and recognition, they provided needed public education on the issues, and played a valuable role in the pivotal debates over Sino-American policy in the 1960's and the early 1970's. However, they were but one element in the mix of factors--strategic, commerical, and political--that were considered in the final decision to recognize the People's Republic.;The five organizations are: the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy, a progressive organization that was formed in 1945 and dissolved in 1952, during the McCarthy era; that National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, formed in 1966; The U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association, formed in 1971; and the U.S.-China policy related activities organized by the National Council of Churches, and the Quakers (through the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the American Friends Service Committee). |
