Richard Nixon and Detente

The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the closest that humankind had ever become to experiencing a thermonuclear war. In October 1962, the world watched perilously, as U.S. president John F. Kennedy warned his people of the amalgamation of Soviet arms in Cuba. John F. Kennedy refused to accept “offensive” Soviet artillery in such close proximity to the U.S., but Soviet chairman Nikita Khrushchev had already planned a stealthily

In the aftermath of World War II, tensions heightened between the two dominant powers: America and the USSR. The differences between the ideologies of the communist USSR and the capitalist United States led to a rapid deterioration in relations. The era between 1945, which marked the end of World War II, to 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, became known as the Cold War due to the fact that despite the lack of large scale conflict, both sides still feared a nuclear holocaust. Both the United States and the Soviet Union followed the military strategy of mutually assured destruction (MAD), meaning that neither side was willing to risk first attack lest the other nation retaliate massively . The fundamental tenet behind MAD that enabled it to serve as an effective deterrent was the idea of secondary strike capability. In essence, it was the ability of a nation to launch a counterattack and thereby ensure mutual destruction. Submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) fulfilled this criteria admirably due to their ability to stay submerged for extended periods of time, the difficulty involved with locating a submarine, and their invulnerability to nuclear missile attacks when submerged. As a result, the United States attempted to corner this leg of the nuclear triad.

From the years of 1941 to 1949, there was an increase in suspicion and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a Communist country ruled by a dictator while America was a capitalist democracy that valued freedom. Their completely different beliefs and aims caused friction to form between them, which contributed to the creation of the Cold War.

Richard Nixon, though created a large credibility gap within the US, he accomplished a lot for the country. He served five years in the presidential office as a republican (1969-1974), and he was the only president to resign from office in history. Although through his presidency he had accomplished many things, such as creating revenue sharing, ending the draft, and creating anticrime laws, he still had a rough time rebuilding his reputation after many assumptions of corruption in his office. Though he never admittedly pledged guilty to his crimes of taking government funds for his own personal gain, there was proof that he was. After the Watergate scandal, the American people set their mind to believe what the proof led to, so Nixon’s

During Nixon's administration in 1972 relationships with china was improved. This was effective in not only a friendship with china but it also concerned the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union and china no longer had ties with allies, the Soviet Union would be less active in their organization. This action leads to President Nixon's Détente Which meant "relaxing" or in the situation the easing of Cold War tensions. Détente also

Even though Rosa is viewed as a hero and some a celebrity she still had her personal day to day life as a normal human being. She went to the 16t street baptist church every Sunday. She was a true believer in God and did everything she could to show god that she is truly a great person. She is probably in heaven right now being praised for what she did to help all the rights of African American people today. Now let’s get to the point in life where she starts to get a job. When she was starting to get a job to make money she could only get menial jobs.( jobs lacking ability or prestige) But as she got older she became part of the NAACP which is a civil rights activist group. The leader of the group was E.D. Nixon as a black male that was also

Nixon's presidency had a tremendous impact on America's foreign and domestic policy. There were several different ways concepts which demonstrate the influence that Nixon's presidency had on American foreign and domestic policy. Nixon had a plethora of successful things he accomplished during his term that benefited America's foreign and domestic policy, but he also made decisions that made the American people doubt him. The most substantial changes or events that occurred during Nixon's presidency have to do with detente, realpolitik, watergate, and the Saturday night massacre.

Détente is a fascinating policy in and of itself. In order to draw the two challenging superpowers closer to America, Nixon decided that he would have to play off the mutual fears of the other. In other words, he told both China and Russia the same things and just substituted in the opposite country’s name. In the end, a shaky peace was established between the heretofore-irreconcilable ideologies of Communism and Capitalism. Through it came a flood of treaties and agreements which paved the way towards

The Vietnam War was one of the most infamous conflicts in American history. The conflict resulted in the cost of 3 million lives, including the lives of young, American boys averaging the ages of 17 and 25 (Hochgesang). The opposition to communism, the actions taken during the preceding Cold War, and the imperialistic attitude adopted through its history, lead the United States in the struggle with the expansion of communist ideas infiltrating the governing bodies of North and South Vietnam (History.com Staff).

The event of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. Fifteen years into the cold war, the two superpowers continued the fierce competition to increase their military strength. In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the nuclear arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe, whereas the US missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba which would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union. The fate of millions

It is ironic that Nixon and Kissinger are identified with the beginning of détente, as first Nixon only intended to have limited accommodation with the Soviet Union. Nixon believed that no summit meeting without adequate preparation had the prospect for concrete agreements. Before Nixon embarked upon a series of summits with Leonid Brezhnev, he cautioned the State Department in a memorandum writing that without adequate preparation, there were no prospects for concrete agreements. Both Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger based their policies on the principles of negotiations, nuclear sufficiency and linkage. While Nixon was the quintessential political tactician, Kissinger was the diplomatic strategist. On 20 January 1969, Nixon’s inauguration day, the Soviet exhibited their willingness to start a serious exchange of views on the control of nuclear missiles.

Without any regulations on the expansions of their nuclear arsenals, both sides became interlocked into a deadly nuclear arms. “The Soviet Union tested its first atomic weapon in 1949, this made American stockpiles of nuclear bombs seem unconvincing, and the development of hydrogen bombs became relevant” (Swift). This would prompt both nations to build up nuclear stockpiles, as one nation gained a stronger and more powerful weapon the other would follow suit, in the name of having a better defensive against the other. Each nation rose one another in the race and would eventually escalate them to a breaking point. “Within John F. Kennedy’s presidency, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962” (Swift). In order to combat this, Kennedy exercised MAD, which foresaw the equal destruction of both sides. This became the essential turning point for political leaders and citizens of both nations, they were both bound to destroy one another. Upon agreement, the U.S.S.R dismantled its nuclear arsenal in Cuba, while the U.S did the same to theirs in Turkey. Kennedy and Khrushchev took many measures in de-escalating nuclear proliferation in order to avoid another near disaster similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The installation of Salt 1, which regulated missile stockpiles, became the first step in relieving the tensions of a nuclear

While the Soviet Union sought to expand its scope of influence even at the cost of peace, the United States openly threatened the Soviet Union, and directly confronted it’s maritime supply ships in international waters. Although both countries came into direct confrontation, this situation lead to thawing of relations in the large term, the United States and Russia created direct communication lines to prevent future misunderstandings, the United States withdrew its nuclear weapons from Turkey, prior to the agreement by the United States to never again invade Cuba, the Soviets withdrew their nuclear weapons from the

After World War II, a new enemy was in the horizon: technology. In the 1940’s, the United States was the leader of the “Free World” paving a path and setting an example for the rest of the world to follow (Maland 191). Americans believed the misconception that “American society was sound, and that communism was a clear danger to the survival of the United States and its allies” (Maland 191). The U.S. maintained a policy of containment by fighting communism wherever it may be, and in a show of might in 1952, they detonated the first hydrogen bomb (Maland 192). Only a short year later, the mighty Soviet Union announced that they too had the Atom bomb (Maland 192). And, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, the United States became alarmed that they were falling behind in science and technology. Because the Soviets had the same capability to annihilate the world with the bomb as the United States, tensions between the two countries increase daily. But, this new war tactic brought into question man’s ability to make decisions of nuclear proportions with

It also engaged in proxy wars in Vietnam, Angola and the Middle East. However despite the tension both sides agreed on a policy of détente. “The policy of détente had primarily meant détente in Europe. Détente also contributed to regulating the arms race through certain limitation agreements” G.Lundestad (2005:87).