Cold War: 1970s-1980

Cold War: 1970s-1980

Overview

Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev wanted a better relationship with America, and U.S. president Richard Nixon, who was worried about the possibility of nuclear war and preoccupied by the Vietnam conflict, also had interest in a "détente," or improving of relations, between the two superpowers. On November 17, 1969, détente began to bear fruit with the opening in Helsinki of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) on nuclear weapons. But the Cold War had not yet thawed, and détente would only become possible when it became clear that the U.S. was disengaging from Vietnam. Nixon was starting to work on one of the grand foreign policy initiatives of his presidency, the opening of relations with China. In addition to reducing direct tension between the U.S. and China, Nixon hoped that a better relationship would counterbalance Soviet influence. 

Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties

SALT

Multiple Choice

SALT were a serious of talks between US and USSR leaders on nuclear arms

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Detente was a period of peace between US and USSR

• False

• True

Nixon and Cold War Overview

Richard M. Nixon served as president of the United States from 1969 to 1974. Nixon attempted to extricate the United States from the ongoing war in Vietnam with limited success. Although his administration negotiated a cease-fire in 1973, in 1975 North Vietnam overran the South and united the country under a communist government. Nixon's chief victories were in the arena of foreign policy, as he reopened American relations with China and relaxed tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Nixon and Detente

A decade of peace begins

Multiple Choice

Which country did Nixon visit first on this path of detente?

• Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR)

• Communist Peoples Republic of China (CPRC)

• North Korea

Nixon's Policy

The limits of détente were tested by the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War of October 1973, in which the United States supported Israel and the Soviet Union the Arabs. Nixon managed the crisis well, preventing the confrontation with the Soviets from getting out of hand and negotiating a cease-fire that made possible later improvements in Israeli-Egyptian relations. Nixon and Kissinger dramatically altered U.S. foreign relations, modifying containment, reducing the importance of alliances, and making the balance of power and the dual relationship with the Soviet Union and China keystones of national policy.

End of Detente and New Decade

On January 2, 1980, in a strong reaction to the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter asks the Senate to postpone action on the SALT II nuclear weapons treaty and recalls the U.S. ambassador to Moscow. These actions sent a message that the age of detente and the friendlier diplomatic and economic relations that were established between the United States and Soviet Union during President Richard Nixon’s administration (1969-74) had ended