1. Controlling the Development of Nuclear Weapons
Test Ban Treaty of 1963
Non-proliferation Treaty (July 1968)
US & USSR agree not to transfer nuclear weapons to other countries or assist others to make nuclear weapons
Nov – joined by the FRG
1970 SALT talks begin in Vienna

2. Arms development

3. Four major types of nuclear testing: 1) atmospheric, 2) underground, 3) exoatmospheric, and 4) underwater

4. Operation Crossroads (Shot Baker)

5. Preparation for an underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site in the 1980s. Visible in the photograph are the test monitoring equipment, as well as the subsidence craters created by previous underground nuclear tests

7. Nevada Test Site

8. The Yucca Flat area of the Nevada Test Site is scarred with subsidence craters from underground nuclear testing

9. US Fallout Exposure - Below are the per capita thyroid doses (in rads) in the continental United States resulting from all exposure routes from all atmospheric nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site from

10. Over 2,000 nuclear explosions have been conducted, in over a dozen different sites around the world

12. SALT I (May 1972) Signed by Nixon and Brezhnev in Moscow
Part I: 5 year freeze on the construction of missile launchers, ICBMs, SLBMs & long-range bombers
Nixon accepted the greater number of Soviet missiles since the US had superiority in number of MIRVs

14. Strategic Weapons Lexicon
ICBM – Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
SLBM – Submarine-launched Ballistic Missile
ABM – Anti-Ballistic Missile
MIRV - Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle

15. SALT I (May 1972) Part II: Defense against missiles
Both sides allowed only 2 anti-ballistic screens – one for their capital cities + one for their main missile sites
Both sides were left almost defenseless against attack – hence MAD (mutually assured destruction)

16. Launch of a Titan II ICBM from underground silo 395-Charlie at Vandenberg AFB, CA in the mid-1960s & a Titan II Gemini Launch

17. Minuteman I Test Silos, Edwards AFB (circa 1960s) and Minuteman I missile

18. A Trident II missile. Both the US Navy and Royal Navy use these missiles aboard their ballistic missile submarines.

19. The MIRV U.S. Peacekeeper missile, with the re-entry vehicles highlighted in red.

20. Technicians secure a number of Mk-21 re-entry vehicles on a Peacekeeper MIRV bus.

21. Minuteman III MIRV launch sequence:

22. ABMs - Dual launch of Sprint missiles during a salvo test at Meck Island & Nike Zeus Missile

23. SALT II
July 1974: both sides agree to start negotiations for a SALT II treaty – it would impose permanent restrictions on nuclear weapons
Concluded June 1979: Carter & Brezhnev signed in Vienna
Both sides limited numbers of missile launchers and MIRVs
Never ratified by the US Senate as a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

24. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II) treaty, June 18, 1979, in Vienna.

25. Developments in Western Europe 1964-68
Test Ban Treaty of 1963 and the Non-proliferation Treaty (July 1968) most significant agreements of détente – welcomed by Western Europe
By 1968 Vietnam War caused a wave of anti-Americanism (US was losing the war and its role as a moral world leader)
Europe rejected Johnson’s claim it was a vital part of a global confrontation – began to concentrate on easing tensions w/ Eastern Europe

26. The Fall of Khrushchev
USSR industries & farming were inefficient & living standards were low
Dissent & criticism were becoming more audible
1964 – Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev
Shared power with others until 1971
Easier for W. Europe to negotiate with Brezhnev – was less erratic than Khrushchev (more conciliatory and a “consensus seeker”)

28. France withdraws from NATO
Disagreements about Vietnam & W. Europe’s increased assertiveness could have destroyed NATO and led to US withdrawal from Europe
De Gaulle took the lead on the attack on US influence
1) 1963 he vetoed Britain’s application to the EEC on the grounds it was still “too pro-American”

29. Charles de Gaulle

30. France withdraws from NATO (cont’d)
2) 1966 he withdrew French forces from NATO & expelled its headquarters from Paris
3) He visited the USSR where he announced European states should liberate themselves from the “bloc mentality” of the Cold War
4) He made every effort to weaken the dollar at a time the US was under increased financial pressure  Vietnam

31. Ostpolitik
West Germany’s policy towards Eastern Europe which involved recognition of the GDR and its postwar boundaries
FRG – established trade missions in Yugoslavia & Romania
Willy Brandt (SD) becomes FM in 1966
Key to his policy: reunification could only be achieved as a long-term goal as part of a European détente

32. Willy Brandt

33. The US Reaction and the Hamel Report
1967: Michael Mansfield (Senator) proposed US troop withdrawal from Western Europe – narrowly defeated
Hamel Report: (Dec. 1967) NATO committee  report which stated –
NATO needed to not only defend Europe but also reach a détente with the Warsaw Pact states
Redefined NATO’s role and prevented the political fallout from the Vietnam War from destroying the alliance

34. Divisions within the Warsaw Pact
1) Soviet retreat from Cuba
2) Growing atmosphere of détente
3) Sino-Soviet split
All combined to weaken Soviet control of Eastern Europe
Poland – expands trade with the West
Romania – wanted better relations w/ FRG
Albania – (Hoxha) aligned w/ China
To stop these independent initiatives the Warsaw Pact  Bucharest Declaration

36. Bucharest Declaration
Called for:
1) recognition of postwar frontiers
2) creation of a new European security system
3) veto of nuclear weapons for the FRG
4) program for economic, scientific, and technical cooperation between East and West