Détente and Its Crises Soviet-American relations through the middle of the 1970s

Détente and Its Conceptual Problems American aims during the period of détente: - containment of the Soviet Union through different means. - limiting Soviet international influence as well as military potential. - psychological challenge: trust the enemy one cannot trust. Soviet aspirations during the period of détente: - Soviet-American military and political parity. - acknowledgment of Soviet gains since WWII. - equal political role for the Soviet Union in world affairs. - continuation of ideological/political competition within clearly established, safer rules of the Cold War.

Détente and Its Practical Problems After 1972 American pursuit of triangular diplomacy: - no major Sino-American agreements, but appearance of Nixon/Kissinger leaning toward China annoying to Moscow. Limited progress in further arms control agreements. Regional crises and perceptions of changing balance of power: - Southeast Asia, South American, Middle East.

Middle East Crisis and Detente Yom Kippur War in October of Lack of Soviet control over their “clients” in the Middle East. Soviet attempts to mediate cease-fire through a joint Soviet-American effort. American perception of Soviet expansionism and unilateral actions to bring peace to the Middle East and to undermine Soviet influence in that region: – Egypt’s defection to the Western camp.

Anwar Sadat and Hafez al-Assad

Détente after Nixon Soviet concern over Nixon’s impeachment as an anti-détente plot. Vladivostok summit and tentative agreement on the SALT II framework: limit all nuclear launchers on both sides to 2,400 and sublimit of 1320 on MIRV (November 1974). Establishment of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1972 and Helsinki accords (1975): inviolability of postwar European borders, economic relations/trade, and observance of human rights.

Ford and Brezhnev at the Vladivostok Summit, November 1974

Brezhnev and Ford at Helsinki, August 1975

American reaction against Detente The fall of South Vietnam and victory of a pro- Soviet faction in the civil war in Angola in Domestic criticism of Nixon/Kissinger’s détente: – Revulsion at moral and international recognition of Soviet legitimacy and equality – Allegation of weakening the United States militarily through arms control agreements – Abandonment of American moral principles in favor of cynical power politics

President Carter,

Carter and Detente No coherent foreign policy strategy; authority in foreign policy divided between individuals with different priorities Crusade to promote universal human rights as the centerpiece of Carter’s foreign policy and its inconsistencies Vance and diplomacy with the Soviet Union to achieve arms reductions Brzezinski and symmetrical containment of the Soviet Union – Establishment of Sino-American anti-Soviet front and American diplomatic recognition of China

Cyrus Vance and Zbignew Brzezinski