Détente - Definition, Policy & Cold War History

Détente Followed Period of Rising Cold War Tensions 

According to Henry Kissinger, the U.S. secretary of state at the time, detente, which is French for "relaxation," is "a process of managing relations with a potentially hostile country in order to preserve peace while maintaining our vital interests," but he cautioned that such a relationship faces "sharp limits."

Despite early nuclear armament agreements like the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty, which was signed in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union even as domestic pressure and anti-war demonstrations increased.

However, with both nations suffering significant economic effects from the weapons race, military spending, and Sino-Soviet breakup, there was a strong incentive for both parties to normalise geopolitical relations and engage in arms control negotiations.

Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev Meet

The Richard Nixon Foundation claims that mistrust between the two men blossomed into friendliness during a series of meetings that Nixon had with Brezhnev, the Soviet Communist party's general secretary at the time, just after Nixon's historic trip to China in February 1972.

Nixon and Brezhnev, the first American president to visit the Soviet Union since 1945, participated in three groundbreaking historic summits while they were both in office. The first summit took place in May 1972, followed by Brezhnev's trip to Washington in June 1973 and Nixon's return trip to Moscow in June/July 1974, which lasted more than 100 hours.

Summits and Treaties

The 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty and the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, two earlier arms agreements, helped lay the foundation for later détente agreements. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), which were initiated in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexi Kosygin and resumed by Presidents Nixon and Brezhnev during their summit in 1972, eventually resulted in the signing of the SALT I pact. The pact enabled each country to construct two missile defence stations while limiting the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that either side might possess in their arsenals.

The End of Détente

The détente era was coming to an end as tensions between the US and the USSR increased as a result of the invasion and the ongoing armament talks broke down.

Carter stated during his January 23, 1980, State of the Union address that "we and the other nations of the world cannot conduct business as usual with the Soviet Union while this invasion continues." Carter also announced harsh economic sanctions against the Soviet Union, a ban on permits for Soviet ships to fish in American coastal waters, the denial of access to high-tech and agricultural products, as well as other trade restrictions. And I've told the Olympic Committee that neither the American people nor I will support sending an Olympic team to Moscow because of the Soviet invasion forces in Afghanistan.

Sources

"Nixon and Brezhnev – Partners in Détente," Richard Nixon Foundation.
"The Cold War, 1961-1972," BBC Bitesize.
"Détente and Arms Control, 1969–1979," Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
“Detente: A History of Ups and Downs in U.S-Soviet Ties,” The New York Times.