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Pros And Cons Of Detente

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Détente is the name given to a period of improved relations between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which began in 1971. Détente is the French word for the relaxing of tension, which was introduced through President Richard Nixon (US president) and Soviet Communist party leader, Leonid I. Brezhnev. The policies of; the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and SALT 1 were introduced to develop into détente. These policies, in theory, were created to calm tensions between the superpowers. Pre détente, the world witnessed worsening US-Soviet relations and its negative impacts on the economy and the population. The focus will be on the positives and negatives of the economic, political, and social relationships, along with the lasting impacts between the two most powerful countries. Relations pre détente Both the US and USSR wanted détente, with domestic issues as well as Cold War struggles. The root of the hostility can be accounted to ideological, political, and economic differences, which led to changing …show more content…

Nevertheless the soviets, in 1967, began the construction of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defence system surrounding Moscow. In a reaction to this, President Lyndon Johnson called for a strategic arms limitation talks (SALT) and SALT 1 was introduced. Furthermore, it was SALT 1 that significantly improved the relations and marked a beginning of collaborative efforts of strategic arms control. This in turn had a clear and favourable effect on the quest for peaceful coexistence. For a short period of time, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was sufficient in slowing the tensions between the superpowers, with President Johnson saying the US must “control the ABM race”. These two treaties limited the development of both offensive and defensive strategies temporarily and stabilised US-Soviet

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