When was détente

The ongoing nuclear arms race was incredibly expensive, and both nations faced domestic economic difficulties as a result of the diversion of resources to military research.

The United States faced an increasingly difficult war in Vietnam, and improved relations with the Soviet Union were thought to be helpful in limiting future conflicts. With both sides willing to explore accommodation, the early s saw a general warming of relations that was conducive to progress in arms control talks. Then, in , the first round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks yielded the Antiballistic Missile Treaty along with an interim agreement setting caps on the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles each side could develop.

At mid-decade, in , the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe emerged from two years of intense negotiations to sign the Helsinki Final Act , which recognized political borders, established military confidence building measures, created opportunities for trade and cultural exchange, and promoted human rights.

By the end of the decade, however, cracks had begun to form in the precarious U. The leadership of the two countries signed a second SALT agreement but did not ratify it, although both nations voluntarily adhered to the provisions for reduced limits on strategic weapons for years thereafter. By the time the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in , the spirit of cooperation had been replaced with renewed competition and formal implementation of the SALT II agreement stalled. Arms control talks ceased in the early s and only restarted when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union.

On May 22 Nixon became the first U. He and Brezhnev signed seven agreements covering the prevention of accidental military clashes; arms control, as recommended by the recent Strategic Arms Limitation Talks salt ; cooperative research in a variety of areas, including space exploration; and expanded commerce.

The salt treaty was approved by Congress later that summer, as was a three-year agreement on the sale of grain to the Soviets. Summit III, in June , was the least productive; by then, the salt talks had ground to a halt, several commercial agreements had been blocked in Congress because of Soviet treatment of Jews, and the Watergate investigation was approaching a climax.

Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. All rights reserved. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. On August 5, , representatives of the United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited the testing of nuclear weapons in outer space, underwater or in the atmosphere.

The treaty, which President John F. Kennedy signed However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one. Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, serving as premier from to Though he largely pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West, the Cuban Missile Crisis began after he positioned nuclear weapons 90 miles from