“America’s connection with giant pandas began almost by accident. In February, 1972, during President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China, First Lady Pat Nixon made small talk at dinner with Premier Zhou Enlai. She mentioned her fascination with the giant pandas that she had just visited at the Beijing Zoo. The Nixon trip was the first diplomatic thaw between the United States and China since the 1949 Communist revolution, so Zhou seized the moment. ‘I’ll give you some,’ he replied.” The New Yorker’s Robin Wright on Washington’s Other Drama: The Unbearable Departure of Its Last Panda Cub. (This is a first for Washington: A black and white case.)