Reducing International Tensions

pg. 207-215

1956 - Khrushchev's 'secret speech'

• In a speech, February 14, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounces the policies of Stalin.

• He rejects the Leninist idea of the inevitability of war and calls for a doctrine of "peaceful coexistence" between capitalist and communist systems.

1959 Kitchen debate

Détente

Everyone is safe,unless a m issile or com puter error

takes p lace

Also long as MAD is a fact, Nuclear W ar is unlike ly to be foughtIt serves as a deterrent

Also called:Mutua l Deterrence

Means that if Nuclear W ar were tobreak out, both countries would be destroyed

Mutua lly Assured DestructionMAD

Com es after the Cuban M issile C ris is

Detente is the build ing of friendly re lationsAlso m eant the destruction of weapons on both sides

DetenteNuclear Arm s Reduction

i. Two ways to prevent Nuclear W ar

DétenteFirst Steps in Détente:

a. Come in 1963 right after the Cuban Missile Crisis

b. Test Ban Treaty: an agreement b/w USA and USSR agreeing to stop testing nuclear

weapons above ground or under water

c. Hotline: A phone line b/w the leaders of the USA and the USSR so there would be

no miscommunication during a crisis.

Détente cont.

American Diplomacy with China “Ping-Pong Diplomacy”

a. Americans saw Sino-Soviet Dispute as an opportunity to improve relations with China.

b. Called “ping-pong diplomacy” because the first Americans allowed to go to China went to play ping pong in an exhibition tournament.

c. This culminated in American President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. First American President to set foot on Chinese

territory.

Détente cont.

• THE SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE IMPROVED RELATIONS B/W THE USA AND CHINA AND MADE THE SOVIETS VERY ANXIOUS TO REDUCE NUCLEAR ARMS.

American-Russian Détente

The slowdown of the production of nuclear weapons

a. Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT): was designed to slow down the arms

race. It limited the amount of weapons each side could have. Two agreements

SALT I - 1972SALT II - 1979

b. Helsinki Agreements: recognize division b/w western and eastern Europe. 1975