At the start of the 1970s, the Americans had just pulled out of the Vietnam War which had been a disaster for the government.
They could not get involved in anything like it again or risk a huge problem with the public turning against them. If this happened it would have seriously dented peoples trust in the government even more than it already had been. This moved America into a period known as the detente. The detente was the relaxation in tensions between the US and some of its Cold War enemies.The president at the time, Richard Nixon, started to talk to other countries and try to get them onside in some of the issues that could affect each of the nations such as resolutions in the U.
N. Nixon ended the long standing political vacuum between China and the U. S. He flew to the country after 20 years of no contact and no travel between them he finally talked to the Premier. His journey was a large move towards peace in the world. He also helped broker the SALT deals between the USSR and his own country.
It stated that missile system numbers must stay the same.He was due to broker another agreement but was removed from office before it could take place. This was delayed even further and did not start until Jimmy Carter took power. These talks were eventually cancelled due to the attack on Afghanistan by Russia. The war was an attempted invasion by the USSR. However, the Taliban forces were funded, trained and supplied by the US.
They gave them anti-aircraft missiles to take down Soviet attack helicopters and caused such a terrible loss for the Soviet forces that the attack was abandoned as it was really bad propaganda for them. They needed to pull out before it became really bad.After this, Ronald Reagan became president. He was a staunch anti-communist.
This led to a period of heightened tensions between Russia and America undoing a lot of the work that Nixon had tried to achieve. This was nicked named the Second Cold War and led to a worrying time for both of the countries population. It was very similar to the troubling times in the 1960s where both countries were ready to attack at a moments notice. However, at the beginning of Reagan's second term, he became much friendlier with the Russian premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, and this led to the friendliest terms between the two countries since long before the Cold War.
He stood in front of the Berlin Wall at one point and, in a speech, told Gorbachev "If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! " This speech came at a time when the Soviet Union was failing and could not support itself, let alone the countries it controlled in Eastern Europe and Asia.It was delivered in 1987 and just two years later, the Berlin Wall fell and the countries of Eastern Europe were once again in control over their own governments.
In conclusion, the period of 1970 to 1990 was a bit of a rollercoaster for America as they moved from the brink of war to peace and then back again before playing a major role in the collapse of the biggest threat to the US ever before. They helped broker deals, then destroyed them all without disturbing the balance of the world and tipping it towards all out nuclear war.
