-
Détente
The term "detente" refers to a time of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 and escalated in May 1972 when President Richard M. Nixon met with Soviet Communist Party Secretary-General Leonid I. Brezhnev in Moscow. -
Arab Oil Embargo
Arab representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) placed an embargo on the US during the Arab-Israeli War in 1973. The embargo imposed both a ban on petroleum exports and a decrease in oil production in the targeted countries. The effect of the embargo, which included high inflation and stagnation in oil importers, was triggered by a complex collection of factors that were unrelated to the Arab members of OPEC's immediate behavior. -
Camp David Accords
Following nearly two weeks of secret talks at Camp David, the president of the United States' historic country retreat, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords. The accords were signed on September 17, 1978, after President Jimmy Carter brought the two sides together. Though the long-term effect of the Camp David Accords is still being debated, the historic agreement helped to strengthen tense ties between Israel and Egypt. -
SALT II
President Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT-II agreement, which deals with nuclear weapons restrictions and guidelines. The treaty, which was never officially adopted, was one of the most divisive US-Soviet negotiations during the Cold War. After both countries ratified SALT-I in 1972, talks between the US and the Soviet Union began almost immediately. The treaty had no success in slowing down the arms race, and it was roundly criticized in the United States. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
A group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The cause of this was President Carter’s decision to allow Iran’s deposed Shah, a pro-Western autocrat who had been expelled from his country some months before, to come to the United States for cancer treatment. hostages were set free on January 21, 1981. -
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989. The Great Communicator was his moniker. He is credited with hastening the end of the Cold War by cutting taxes, increasing military expenditure, and negotiating a nuclear weapons reduction deal with the Soviets. -
Reagan’s Star Wars initiative
The idea was for a device armed with a constellation of space-based X-ray lasers to detect and deflect any nukes aimed at the US. The proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was perceived by Reagan as a precaution against the most dreadful Cold War outcome—nuclear destruction. The Soviets had hundreds of missiles targeted at the US, and SDI was supposed to make them all obsolete. The practical argument against SDI was that it was too costly and technologically impractical. -
Iran-Contra Affair
The Iran-Contra Affair was a covert arms deal between the United States and Iran. This agreement exchanged missiles and other weapons in return for the release of several Americans held captive in Lebanon by terrorists. Funds from the arms deal were also used to finance the civil struggle in Nicaragua. The contentious deal—and the resulting political scandal—threatened to derail Ronald Reagan's presidency. -
Reykjavik Summit of 1986
On October 11-12, 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavik, Iceland, in a near-successful effort by representatives of nuclear powers to negotiate on the total removal of nuclear weapons. Despite the fact that Reykjavik brought together two leaders who were both passionate about nuclear disarmament and eager to act on that conviction, the summit was considered a failure at the time due to inadequate planning and a chaotic negotiation process. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
East Berlin's Communist Party declared a shift in his city's ties with the West as the Cold War started to thaw across Eastern Europe. People of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders starting at midnight. Berliners from both sides of the divide flocked to the wall, screaming "Open the gate!". "Wall woodpeckers" because they used hammers and picks to knock down parts of the wall. The Berlin Wall was destroyed shortly after, and the city was reunited for the first time since 1945. -
Gorbachev
Gorbachev was a Soviet official who served as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's general secretary from 1985 to 1991 and as the Soviet Union's president from 1990 to 1991. His attempts to decentralize his country's economy and democratize its political structure culminated in the collapse of communism and the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991. -
Final Collapse of Soviet Union
In order to develop his own strategy and strategies for dealing with the Soviet Union, George Bush ordered a strategic policy re-evaluation. Boris Yeltsin became president of Russia after Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union. People all over the world marveled at the relatively peaceful transition from a former Communist monolith to numerous independent countries.