The policy of détente refers to the time in the 1960s-1970s when the two superpowers eased tension and tried to cooperate to avoid conflict. Détente helped the superpowers reduce spending on the ...

Although the United States and Soviet Union had begun a process of détente in 1970, both sides were still anxious that the other not achieve any advantage in the overall balance of power.

This was the first time a President of the USA had been in the Soviet Union since 1945. Nixon met Brezhnev, leader of the USSR. In the 1970s, the Soviet economy was in trouble and had to look to ...