' Détente and Arms Control, 1969–1979,' Office of the Historian, U.S. President Richard Nixon was quick to extend his hand toward Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. 22 February 1972: Richard Nixon begins a seven-day visit to the People’s Republic of China - the first visit to the country by a US president David Kraslow Fri 00.30 EST Last. On the morning of February 21, 1972, when he strode down the stairs of Air Force One after landing in Beijing, U.S. ' Nixon and Brezhnev – Partners in Détente,' Richard Nixon Foundation. President Richard Nixon shake hands at an airport in Beijing, China, February 21, 1972. “And I have notified the Olympic Committee that with Soviet invading forces in Afghanistan, neither the American people nor I will support sending an Olympic team to Moscow.”Ĭarter’s support of Afghan and Pakistani troops and America’s boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, followed by the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan who referred to détente as a “one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its aims” and, in 1983 called the nation an “ evil empire,” ended the détente era as the Cold War escalated once again. coastal waters, the cutting off of access to high-tech and agricultural products and other trade limitations. “While this invasion continues, we and the other nations of the world cannot conduct business as usual with the Soviet Union,” Carter said during his January 23, 1980, State of the Union address, announcing stiff economic penalties on the Soviet Union, a ban on permits for Soviet ships to fish in U.S. Visit to the Plaza Hotel - Las Vegas, NM (excerpt)Really enjoyed this DVD narrated by our own Allan Affeldt and with his permission am posting first 10 minut. and Soviets rising following the invasion, the détente era was deteriorating. President Richard Nixon traveled to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and met with Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and Zhou Enlai, the PRC Premier. With the continued arms talks stalled and tensions between the U.S. President Gerald Ford met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in the Soviet Union in November 1974 as part of an effort to normalize relations during the Cold War.Īfter years of negotiations between Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and Brezhnev, Carter and the Soviet leader agreed to and signed SALT II negotiations in 1979, which established an equal number of nuclear weapons between the countries and limited MIRV missiles, among other guidelines.īut with the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter delayed ratifying it, as did Brezhnev, although both agreed to uphold the treaty.

Nixon visits china