How Did Nixon Build Better Relations With The Soviet Union

1278 Words6 Pages

Abid Kassim

Richard Nixon worked hard to build better relations with the Soviet Union in order to reduce the chance of nuclear war during his term as President. He made negotiations, limited the production of missiles, and gained some support from Egypt. Nixon was able to help Israel in the war against Arabs behind the seen, avoiding putting boots on the ground.
Richard Nixon laid out a new foreign policy doctrine in 1969 and in November of 1969 the negotiations on the first Strategic Arms Limitations Talk (SALT) began. Nixon pursued a policy of Détente with the Soviet Union. During this time the Soviet Union was near the state of strategic parity with the U.S and was on the verge of moving forward with the U.S ICBM launchers. The U.S was …show more content…

The fundamentals of the détente had too many contradictions to what was expected in the new relationship between the two. War had affected the détente policy between the U.S and the Soviet Union. In 1973 there was an agreement signed which included an agreement to prevent war, and it included measures to prevent nuclear war. Unfortunately the détente just wasn’t able to stop the hostility between the two super powers. They both continued to pursue goals and national interests at the cost of one another. It worsened the crisis with the Middle East, and both the United States and the Soviet Union didn’t do much to help with the Israeli-Arab conflict going on at that time. The Arabs used oil as a defense for the first time, no longer selling oil to the U.S and cutting exports to countries supporting Israel. This oil embargo had a devastating effect on the U.S economy. The U.S and Soviet Union were lead to another crisis, similar to the confrontation in 1962 which was the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union was worried about an Arab defeat and the United States was worried about an Israeli defeat. It is sometimes as if history becomes a repeat of itself. The main reason both countries were worried about these issues is because they were trying to maintain credibility and wanted to continue to be viewed as the superpowers with the capability of defending themselves against direct