COLD WAR: PART TWO YES… THERE IS MORE…

ON THE LAST EPISODE OF THE COLD WAR FILES On July 20, 1969, astronauts from Apollo 11 land on the MOON, with Neil Armstrong proclaiming the landing as “ONE SMALL STEP FOR A MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND.” That meant that the United States had won the race to the MOON. In 1968, Richard Nixon would win the Presidency…

Nixonian cold war relations: better days Tensions were still very high when RICHARD NIXON took office, and he made it his top priorities to bring about peace in VIETNAM, and improve American relations with CHINA and the USSR. Nixon allowed his top security advisor, and future Secretary of State, HENRY KISSINGER, to develop the foreign policy for the Nixon Administration. Kissinger developed a philosophy known as REALPOLITIK, which meant that foreign policy would be faced on how POWERFUL other nations were, and not their ideals or moral principles. Nixon agreed with Kissinger, and developed a system to deal with Communist nations, called a DÉTENTE, which is a policy aimed at bringing about better relations between Communist nations and the UNITED STATES.

The détente policy The first example of Nixon’s DÉTENTE policy was his decision to visit Communist CHINA, a visit which was wildly popular with the American PUBLIC. Nixon also recognized the Communist CHINESE government, and denounced the government in TAIWAN, which had declared independence from CHINA when Mao took power. The second example of the policy was Nixon’s decision to visit MOSCOW, which led to warmer relations between the USSR and the US. As part of the visit, Leonid Brezhnev and Nixon discussed and signed the SALT I TREATY, or the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks 1 Treaty. That treaty stopped the development of new missiles for five years. DÉTENTE would collapse under President JIMMY CARTER because of his insistence that human rights violations in China and the USSR must stop.

REAGAN COMES TO POWER In 1981, RONALD REAGAN takes office, and doubles down on Communism. Reagan wanted to destroy COMMUNISM, and rejected Nixon’s détente. Reagan asked scientists something called the STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE, or the SDI, which would cost trillions, but keep the US safe from NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Right when the SDI was on the verge of failure, world leaders such as UK PRIME MINISTER, MARGARET THATCHER, and POPE JOHN PAUL II, stepped in and agreed with Reagan. In 1985, MIKHAIL GORBACHEV takes office in the USSR, and Reagan increased US defense spending, which caused the USSR to do the same, which nearly collapsed the USSR’s economy. Gorbachev puts into place the policies of GLASNOST, which gave Russians freedom to complain about the government, and PERESTROIKA, which was more economic freedoms for Soviet citizens.

THE USSR DISENTIGRATES Reagan and Gorbachev negotiated the INTERMEDIATE-RANGE NUCLEAR FORCES TREATY, or the INF Treaty. More than 2,500 missiles were destroyed because of the treaty. In 1987, Ronald Reagan demanded the Mikhail Gorbachev open the Brandenburg Gate and tear down the BERLIN WALL, defiantly demanding “MR. GORBACHEV, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL.” On NOVEMBER 9, 1989, people began to tear down the Berlin Wall. The Cold War ended on CHRISTMAS DAY in 1991 when Gorbachev resigned. In 1993, President George H. W. Bush (George W. Bush’s dad) and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the SALT II pact, which cut nuclear weapons by a third in both countries.