Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume XIV: Soviet Union, October 1971-May 1972

 The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity of the United States Government.

 

This volume is part of a subseries of the Foreign Relations of the United States that documents the most issues in the foreign policy of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, 1969-1972.

 

This volume on the Soviet Union provides a summary account of U.S.-Soviet worldwide confrontation, competition, and cooperation during the 8 months it covers. 

 

The administration of Richard M. Nixon presented an even more pressing argument to look at the U.S.-Soviet relationship in its broadest, global context.  President Nixon created a secret, private channel of dialogue and negotiations between the president’s Assistant for National Security Affairs, Henry A. Kissinger, and the Soviet Ambassador in Washington, Anatoly F. Dobrynin.  The documentary record of that channel is presented in its entirety in this volume, as well as a virtually complete record of the Moscow Summit.  In his relations with Moscow, President Nixon insisted on linkage of other issues e.g., Vietnam, the Middle East, South Asia, Arms Control, or trade, with improvements in U.S.-Soviet Relations.  The President also employed triangular diplomacy – Nixon offered to it as “the game” –to put pressure on the Soviet Union by improving U.S. relations with the People’s Republic of China, while denying to Soviet officials that he was doing so.

 

Finally in 1972, Richard Nixon made his first Presidential visit to Moscow and signed a number of agreements with the Soviet Union that initiated a period of détente.  These new initiatives and extensive connections between the two superpowers required a redesign of Foreign Relations coverage of the Soviet Union.  The number of documents printed and the scope of their content greatly expanded.  There are five volumes for the Soviet Union within the Nixon-Ford subseries, 1969-1976, three of which document the crucial first Nixon Administration.  These volumes document U.S.-Soviet relations worldwide and more accurately reflect the global nature of the Cold War.