1. The Vietnam War and the Rise of Detente Nixon’s and Kissinger’s Strategy of Containment

2. The Vietnam War’s Effect on American Cold War Policies Loss of American initiative in the Cold War; excessive concentration of attention and resources on Vietnam. American failure to adjust to the Sino-Soviet antagonism. Relative weakening of American alliances: French withdrawal from NATO. Passivity in regional crises in the Middle East and the Indian peninsula.

3. Soviet International Position at the end of the 1960s Successful Soviet military buildup: – 4-5% annual increase in military budget. – Rising nuclear arsenal: 340 ICBM’s in 1966, 720 in 1967, 900 in 1968, 1060 in 1969. Apparent retreat of Soviet influence in Asia and the Middle East: - 1965 overthrow of Sukarno in Indonesia. - 1967 defeat of Arab states in the Six Days War with Israel. - 1968 unrest in Czechoslovakia and Soviet suppression of the “Prague Spring.” – “Brezhnev Doctrine”

4. The Soviet Union and the Vietnam War Lack of Soviet strategy or design for the Vietnam War. Soviet inability and unwillingness to profit from American preoccupation in Vietnam. Failure to repair Sino-Soviet relations and their further rift under the pressures of the war in Vietnam. Sino-Soviet border war of 1969.

5. Alexander Dubcek, the First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, 1968-1969

6. Soviet-American relations and American disengagement from Vietnam Opening of Vietnamese-American peace talks in Paris in 1968 Johnson’s willingness to negotiate with the Soviet Union on arms control. Mutually Assured Destruction and Anti- Ballistic Missile Defense Systems (ABM). Glassboro summit in 1967 and Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty of 1968.

7. Kosygin and Johnson in Glassboro, NJ, 1967

8. Nixon and Kissinger

9. Nixon’s and Kissinger’s Strategy of Containment Détente as a form of containment. Acknowledgment of diffusion of power and Soviet equality in strategic forces. Limiting American commitments under the Nixon Doctrine. Preservation of the world balance of power. Containment of the Soviet military-political power, not of abstract ideology of communism.

10. Nixon’s and Kissinger’s Tactics of Containment Engagement of the Soviet Union in diplomatic negotiations. Linkage of issues in negotiations and the quid pro quo approach. Exploitation of world diversity and triangular diplomacy: – Opening up to Communist China to counterbalance Soviet influence

11. Soviet leadership and Detente Strive for confirmation of Soviet strategic parity with the United States. Desire for formal recognition of post WWII international order and borders in Europe. Concern over the Chinese threat and prospect of profitable trade with the West. But Considerable opposition to limiting Soviet military capabilities under Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Centrality of Brezhnev’s influence and desire to be a peacemaker.

12. Andrei Grechko and Dmitri Ustinov

13. Yuri Andropov and Andrei Gromyko

14. Nixon and the War in Vietnam Disengagement and withdrawal of American forces. New military strategies to bring “peace with honor:” “Vietnamization” of the war, heavy bombing, invasions of Laos and Cambodia Linkage of the war in Vietnam to the progress of SALT. Triangular diplomacy and American opening to China.