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East-West Relations during détente.
• Following the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963, a hotline was
installed between the US and USSR so in future crises the
leaders had a direct line to each other.
• Also in 1963, a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was finished.
– Banned all nuclear tests except underground.
• USA began to export wheat to the USSR.
• 1975: Helsinki Accords were signed that led to:
– Recognized legitimacy of postwar borders of Europe
– Closer cultural and technological cooperation
– Called upon signatory (signing) states to protect human rights
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Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) began in 1969. It
led to several agreements in 1972:
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Banning nuclear weapons on the ocean floor
Updating the hotline between Washington and Moscow
Limiting each side to 2 sites for ABM’s of limited size and
effectiveness.
•
One to protect the capital city; the other to shield a single complex of
ICBM’s
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WHY?
Freezing the development of new offensive weapons until 1977
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•
SALT II (1974)
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A ban on all underground tests over 150 kilotons
And SALT should be extended to 1985
The treaty was signed in 1979 and there were five major points:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
•
Limiting delivery systems to 2,400, declining to 2,250 in 1985
Missiles over a certain size were banned
Limits were set on the number of warheads per missile
Modest restrictions on the development of new delivery systems
Parties agreed to notify each other of tests and stocks
Congress never ratified.
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US and USSR sign many treaties during détente
• 1967 Outer Space Treaty
– Banned placing nuclear weapons in outer space
• 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
– Signatories agreed not to exchange nuclear knowledge or
hardware.
– France, Israel, and China did not sign.
• 1971 Seabed Pact
– Banned placing nuclear weapons on the sea bed outside a
country’s 12 mile limit of territorial waters
• 1972 Biological Warfare Treaty
– Banned the development, production, and stockpiling of biological
toxins and weapons.
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• Linkage is based on the misconception that world politics
revolved around the constant struggle for supremacy
between the US and the USSR, and after 1964, China.
• Pres. Nixon, like his predecessors JFK and LBJ, viewed
Vietnam as a highly complex game in which the moves
were made from Washington, Moscow, and Beijing.
– There was no understanding that Hanoi had its own objectives
often unconnected to the USSR and China.
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• Nixon realized that the USSR and China did not get along. He realized
he could use this poor relationship to a US advantage.
– If Nixon pursued détente with the USSR, China would worry about
a US-USSR pact against China.
– If Nixon set up a relationship with China, then the USSR would
get anxious.
• With this in mind, Nixon became the first pres. to visit China.
– In doing so, the nations began a relationship that would not tolerate Soviet
expansion in Asia.
– The US recognized Formosa (Taiwan) as a part of China.
• And under Pres. Carter, the US no longer recognized the Nationalist Chinese on the
island.
• Détente worked in China. The new relationship between the US and
China unnerved the Soviets.
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Significance of détente
• Some historians argue détente has been the policy of the
USSR under a different name: peaceful coexistence.
• it was never a policy of the US until the late 1960’s and 70’s
• Détente meant different things for both sides
– USA
• A way to contain Soviet power and communism with less confrontation
• Liberalize the USSR
• Undermine Soviet control over its missiles
– USSR
• A safe way to wait for the inevitable economic and social crisis in the West
that would bring about the Proletarian Revolution
– BOTH: make the world safe from Nuclear war