Kissinger's Involvement in Detente and the SALT Negotiations

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This investigation assesses the success of the policies of Henry Kissinger during the tense period of the Cold War and the sequential years, specifically pertaining to the peace summits with Russian officials in 1972 and 1973 with regard to the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties. This investigation evaluates Kissinger’s impact during the period of the SALT treaties on the reduction of nuclear arms and the implementation of détente. Specifically, how Kissinger got what he wanted, the risks involved, and the outcome of the treaties. The sources used, Détente and the Nixon Doctrine, by Robert S. Litwak and Kissinger: 1973, The Crucial Year, by Alistair Horne, will then be evaluated for their origins, purposes, values, and limitations.

B. Summary of the Evidence

On January 20, 1969, Richard Milhouse Nixon became the 37th president of the United States and faced great challenges at home and on the world front . Richard Nixon selected Henry Kissinger to be his assistant for National Security Affairs. Under their control for the next 6 years, they oversaw the formation of détente and the creation of Triangular Diplomacy. The Nixon-Kissinger strategy in approaching the Soviet Union was full of contradictions and risks. One of the most severe and most notable risks was the potential preemptive nuclear strike that the Soviets were threatening to take against China; an attempt by the Soviets to bully the Chinese into negotiating the Sino-Soviet border. Becoming involved in the Soviet affairs was very dangerous, because as Kissinger observed, the balance of power due to missile strength was shifting from the United States holding the upper hand to that of the Soviets being in control . Kissinger, upon realization of this fact, ...

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...thin the global community by reducing the threat of nuclear war through the reduction of arms and helping each superpower to share a newfound respect and understanding of the other, both welcoming the long awaited period of stability. The détente that Kissinger so actively campaigned for created a new method of cooperation between the superpowers, effectively decreasing the intensity of the conflict felt during the Cold War Era.

Works Cited

Aitken, Jonathan. Nixon: A Life. London: Regnery Pub. 1993.

Ambrose, Stephen. Nixon: The Education of a Politician. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1987.

Horne, Alistair. Kissinger:1973, The Crucial Year. New York: Simon and Schuster. 2009.

Kissinger, Henry. The Years of Upheaval. Canada: Little, Brown and Company. 1982.

Litwak, Robert. Détente and the Nixon Doctrine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1984.

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