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As the Head of State, the office of the
presidency serves as the symbolic or ceremonial
representation of the United States. An analogy can be
made to the Queen of England or the Emperor of Japan,
individuals who serve to represent the government to its
people, or to represent that government symbolically to
the world. In this capacity the president may attend
ceremonies or funerals for the heads of foreign
governments, or toss the first pitch on baseball's
opening day.
NOTE: The examples
listed below are selected for their value in study for
the Regent's Examination,
and represent a small fraction of the possible examples.
Kennedy's
speech at the Berlin Wall:
 During
the heights of the Cold War the divided German city of
Berlin remained a sore point in US-Soviet relations. The
successful Berlin Airlift in 1948 had assured the
survival of the democratic West Berlin and after that
event, US troops had remained stationed in the city.
The growing economic disparity between
the successful capitalist West Berlin and the
economically faltering communist East Berlin created a
huge incentive for refugees to migrate westward. The
Soviets, seeking to halt the flood of refugees
constructed a 20 mile concrete wall, topped with barbed
wire and gunman. The Berlin Wall became a symbol
of the deepening Cold War and the further division
between capitalism and communist governments.
In a symbolic decision, President
John F. Kennedy decided to travel to the Berlin Wall
and declare US support for the people of West Berlin. In
his famous speech at the Berlin Wall Kennedy declared
that all free peoples were "citizens of West
Berlin" and reaffirmed the support of the western
democracies. Kennedy's presence was a symbolic gesture,
as US head of state, to symbolize the struggle against
communism and America's commitment to supporting
democratic governments.
Richard
M. Nixon's visit to China:
President Richard M. Nixon's
visit to communist China in 1972 was a symbol not of
Cold War
tension, as Kennedy's trip to West Berlin had been, but
instead served to highlight an opening of relations with
the communist government. This new approach to the
realities of the Cold War world were typified by the
philosophy of Realpolitik, which advocated
realistic or practical political engagement.
Following the 1948 communist revolution in China, the
United States had refused to recognize the legitimacy of
the new government, instead backing the
government-in-exile in Taiwan. By 1971 the
reality of the situation caught up to Cold War politics
and Nixon decided to extend recognition and
diplomatic relations to communist China. The American
National Ping-Pong team was sent to China in an effort
to open relations. This so-called Ping-Pong Diplomacy began to ease tensions between the
two nations and symbolized a normalization of
relations. This was highlighted in a 1972 visit by Nixon
to China which served as a symbolic recognition of the
communist Chinese and paved the way for trade and
commerce between the two. This opening of trade has now
widened to a huge degree, as many US companies have
opened production facilities in China, and further
penetrate the lucrative Chinese market of 1.2 billion
people.
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