The Cold War: Detente

A shift: The Cold War in the 70s

Richard Nixon

Republican

1968-1974

Worldview

• Nixon was a realist prioritizing it over moralism when it came to foreign policy

• Focused more on American economic advantages in foreign policy

Foreign Policy Containment had:

• According to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger focused to much on morals damaging US standing/superiority

Shift in 70s to Detente: relaxing of tensions

• Core idea: despite differences between the capitalist and communist systems, war is not inevitable, and is prevented through linkage:

  • arms control and disarmament

  • Joint approaches to regional conflicts

  • Trade and investment

The Cold War Spheres of Power: Detente

• Soviet Sphere: 1969: Strategic Arms Limitation Talk

  • USSR fighting in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East

• Chinese Sphere: 1971-1979: US Opens Diplomatic Relations with China + 1968-1973: Vietnamization

  • China fighting US in Asia

• Middle East Sphere: 1978: The Camp David Accords

  • Middle east fighting in middle east

Soviet Sphere: Detente

1969: Strategic Arms Limitation Talk (SALT)

• Limitations between the US and USSR

  • Limited each superpower to 200 defensive nuclear missiles 

  • froze the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles for the next five years (cannot make more of them)

• Agreements between the US and USSR

  • establish more favorable conditions for developing commercial and other economic ties

  • 1975: make first joint manned venture into space in

  • Others relating to incidents at sea, science and technology, health, and the environment were also made

Significance:

• If Lyndon wasn’t elected you might have seen this sooner (Kennedy was laying the groundwork)

• Agreements make it less likely that these nations would come into conflict (they are working together economically)

Chinese Sphere: Detente

1971-1979: US Opens Diplomatic Relations with China

• Sino-Soviet Split (1960s)

• Detente Agreements w/ China

1968-1973: Vietnamization

• Leaving Vietnam

Sino-Soviet Split

1960s

• ideological conflict that breaks USSR-China alliance

• makes them easier to work w/ individually to soften Cold War tensions

• makes China vunerable bc @ the time was economically/industrially behind

Detente Agreements w/ China

1971-1979

Agreements:

• relaxation of travel & trade restrictions

• increased communication

  • 1971 Nixon cancels trade embargo

  • 1971 US Ping Pong team visits China

• 1972 Nixon visits China

• 1979 US established full diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China

Significance:

• Cheap American business in China → paves way to manufacturing powerhouse of today

• Critics:

  • Left: concerned w/ civil rights → US working nations w/ human rights violation w/o demanding change

  • Right: concerned w. integrity → US working w/ evil communists

Vietnamization

1968-1973: Vietnamization Nixon strategy

Goal: bring American troops home while giving South Vietnamese chance at winning

• Small draft to train South Vietnamese

• inc air war over North Vietnam letting South Vietnamese army handle ground attacks 

• Bombed Ho Chi Min trail to demobilize North Vietnam's “secret” tunnels through neighboring Laos & Cambodia to cut off supplies (smart militarily but expansion so unpopular)

1973: Nixon withdrew the US from Vietnam

Vietnam falls to communism

March 1973 - April 30, 1975: South Vietnamese army tried desperately to save the South from political and military collapse

• April 30: Communist forces captured the presidential palace in Saigon, ending the Vietnam War

• Vietnam became a communist nation and it remains so today

  • Significance: Detente → no benefit to us, ppl are dying, we pull out

Middle East Sphere: Detente

Jimmy Carter

The Camp David Accords 1978

Jimmy Carter

Democrat → not FDR, Lyndon = Nixon small gov, streamlined + human rights focus

President from 1976-1980

Background: Evangelical Christian (post-presidency did service rest of life) + Naval Academy Grad

Worldview:

• Believed in self-determination of all ppl

• Wanted the US to take the lead in promoting universal human rights

• Believed that American power should be exercised sparingly: US should avoid military intervention

• Wanted to continue to ease tensions between the US and the communist world 

Camp David Accords

1978: Efforts to Build Peace in Middle East

• Democratic President Jimmy Carter sought to achieve peace between Israel and other nations in the Middle East

• Camp David Accords 1978

  • Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and Egyptian President Sadat met at Camp David in Maryland

  • Carter brokered an agreement that outlined a framework to bring peace between Egypt and Israel

  • As a result, Egypt pledges to be the first Arab nation to recognize Israel

Significance:

• Cannot kill ideologies (Arab nationalism) despite trying for 30 yrs so to achieve peace we have to coexist