Cold War Tensions and Detente

Kennedy's Negotiation

• Estimated 18 million potential US casualties from Soviet missiles in Oct 1962.
• Kennedy initiated a special response, gaining an upper hand in negotiations with USSR.

Mao Zedong's Rule

• Mao carried out industrialization and collectivization, purged opponents, and created a cult of personality.

Shifting Perspectives on Communism

• Improved living standards and low unemployment rates weakened support for Western Europe's Communist parties.
• Doubts arose regarding communism as a threat and the morality of proxy conflicts.

Nixon's Detente

• Facing protests and an overstretched defense budget, Nixon sought a more stable US-Soviet relationship.
• Talks with Brezhnev led to the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) in 1969.

SALT I Treaty (May 1972)

• Froze the number of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
• Basic agreement reached, outlining superpower relations and promising restraint to avoid military provocations and nuclear war.
• Marked the beginning of a period of detente.