Foreign Policy 1970-1991

1. DETENTE
Detente is the "cooling off of the Cold War". This is when the US began to interact with the
communists and lesson the tensions of the Cold War. Here are the episodes of Detente on the
exam.

• Nixon Goes to China. In the early 1970's Nixon became the first President
to travel to a communist country, China. Pictures of him on ther Great Wall with the
leaders of Red China say a thousand words. The era of brinkmanship was coming to an
end.
• Vietnamization. We went over this but when the US retreats from Vietnam it is
considered a colling off of the Cold War.
• SALT. Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. Beginning with Nixon, the US began to sign
treaties with the Soviets to begin to limit the amount of nuclear arms we had.

2. CARTER (1976-1980)

• Camp David Accords. PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. One of the worlds biggest problems
lies in the middle east between the Arabs and the state of Israel, the country formed for
Jews at the end of WWII. Carter brought Egypt and Israel together and brokered a peace
deal. They are only one of two countries in the middle east that recognize Israel today.
• IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS. During the end of Carters term, Iran had an Islamic
Revolution and took 50 Americans hostage because we took in their deposed leader the
Shah of Iran. Carter was unable to free them making him look weak. This led to the
election of Ronald Reagan.
3. Reagan (1980-1988)

• IRAN_CONTRA. Reagan is seen as the one who got the Iran hostages out although eh
really did not, they were released the day he took office. BUT some deal was made in
secret. Reagan had asked Congress to aid a rebel group in Nicaragua who was fighting
communists. Congress refused. SO Reagan went behind their back and made a deal with
Iran to sell them weapons, in return the Iranians send guns and arms to the rebels who
were called the CONTRAS. Later Congress would punish some of Reagan's underlings who
were responsible. Reagan claimed he did not know.

• GORBACHEV Reagan in the 1980's began a series of summit meetings with

the Soviet leader which led to a relationship which was unlike anyone we had with past
Soviet leaders. Their willingness to meet and work out problems is an example of
DETENTE
• GLASNOST. It was under Reagan that Gorbachev the Soviet leader began to widen
freedom in the Soviet Union. He began handing out M and M's. Want to know what is
going to happen?

4. Bush (1988-1992)

• The Fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1990, spontaneous protests began to spread across the
WARSAW PACT countries. In East Germany, the people began attacking the Berlin Wall and
eventually took it down. The two nations reunited and ended communism.
• At the same time a revolution occurred in the Soviet Union making it break up into smaller
countries, Russia being the biggest. This is the end of communism as we know it in the
Cold War.
• NEW WORLD ORDER. This is the name of the new policy we will adopt. We are now the
only superpower in the world so we take it on to be the policeman of the world. See us as
SUPERMAN and we will in the 1990's intervene in Kuwait, Somalia, Serbia, South America
as well as in Eastern Europe a bit.