The U.S. and Soviet leaders discussed human rights, increasing bilateral exchanges, cooperation on environmental matters, and trade expansion. During the Cold War the leadership of the Soviet Union underwent a gradual but dramatic shift from the dictatorial rule of Joseph Stalin at the beginning of the era to the reformist glasnost (openness) andperestroika(restructuring) policies of Mikhail Gorbachev, who would prove to be the final leader of the U.S.S.R., which would dissolve in 1991, resulting in the establishment of the so-called new world order.

The two leaders exchanged and signed ratification documents on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which the Supreme Soviet and the U.S. Senate had approved on May 23 and 27, respectively. April 1950: NSC-68 In April 1950, Truman signed National Security Council Paper 68 (NSC-68) outlining U.S. justifications for a rapid and massive U.S. military build-up. May 1955: Austrian State Treaty The United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France signed the Austrian State Treaty on May 15, 1955. Differences between the two governments over cruise missiles and the Soviet Backfire bomber frustrated Ford's desires to strengthen cooperation between the two superpowers and to conclude a SALT II agreement. October 1983: START Talks In October 1983, President Reagan announced that at the START negotiations, the United States would propose a mutual guaranteed build-down of strategic weapons, whereby older weapons would be reduced as newer ones were deployed. In 1955, as decolonization swept the globe following World War II, delegates from 29 countries met in Bandung, Indonesia, and argued that developing countries should embrace neutralism, abstain from allying with either the U.S or the U.S.S.R, and join together in support of national self-determination against colonialism and imperialism. Other topics of discussion included the conflict in Laos and disarmament. The original members of NATO were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While Western Europe focused on the Middle East, the Soviets moved to squash anti-communist rebellions in Poland and Hungary. In instituting these reforms, Gorbachev aimed to reduce party control of the government. Not knowing that the Soviets had captured the pilot and gotten a confession confirming the spy mission, Eisenhower claimed the aircraft was merely a weather plane. Brezhnev later justified the invasion with the assertion, known as the Brezhnev Doctrine, that when internal or external forces hostile to socialism sought to restore the capitalist order in any socialist state, all other socialist states had the right to intervene. The joint communiqu expressed "deep satisfaction" with the conclusion of the Paris Agreement on Vietnam, which had been signed the preceding January. Dictators of the 20th century, however, were hardly temporary. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev by the roles they played in bringing the Cold War to an end. December 1959: Antarctic TreatyOn December 1, the United States, the Soviet Union, and ten other countries signed a treaty to internationalize and demilitarize the Antarctic continent. On November 4, Soviet forces moved into Hungary and suppressed the revolt. This marked the beginning of a brief loosening of the most stringent forms of censorship in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union rejected the U.S. proposal.

They released a detailed joint statement covering the full U.S.-Soviet agenda and signed several agreements on arms control verification and notification procedures. Khrushchev also visited Eisenhower's farm at Gettysburg. MacMillan also visited Nikita S. Khrushchev in Moscow in February 1959. How much do you know about the ties and feuds between these two countries? December 1981: Martial Law in Poland Authorities declared martial law in Poland on December 13, 1981. John F. Kennedy are forever linked by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek by the Chinese Civil War, and U.S. Pres. September 1984: Proposal for Future Arms Control Talks At the United Nations, Reagan proposed a broad "umbrella" framework for talks between the United States and the Soviet Union on arms control issues. The revolt led the Polish Communist leadership to allow some reforms. September-October 1969: Soviet Submarine Base in Cuba In the fall of 1969, the United States protested the arrival of a Soviet flotilla and the construction of a Soviet submarine base at Cayo Alcatraz in the Bay of Cienfuegos, Cuba. Learn about the major events and battles of World War II. They signed a protocol limiting each side to one ABM site apiece, instead of the two allowed in the 1972 ABM Treaty, and a Threshold Test Ban Treaty that limited the size of underground nuclear weapons tests. In 1968, in what became known as the Prague Spring, Communist Party First Secretary Alexander Dubek granted greater freedom of expression to the Czechoslovak press and oversaw the rehabilitation of victims of Stalin-era political purges.

The American Revolution (177583) won political independence for 13 of Britains North American colonies, which subsequently formed the United States of America. Having toppled the dictatorial government of Fulgencio Batista through guerrilla warfare in the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro established the Western Hemispheres first comminist state. John F. Kennedy, the United States furnished nuclear missiles for British submarines. The United States proposed drafts on INF forces and Defense and Space, which included the right to withdraw from the ABM Treaty for reasons of supreme national interest.

Secretary Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze also concluded separate agreements, two of them related to arms control: the agreement on Advanced Notification of Strategic Ballistic Missile Launches and the Joint Verification Experiment agreement on nuclear testing. During the conference, the Soviet Union served as intermediary in conveying North Vietnamese willingness to negotiate in exchange for a halt to the U.S. bombing. January 1983: Reagan's Open Letter to Europe While in Berlin in January, 1983, Vice President Bush read an "open letter" to Europe from President Reagan, in which Reagan proposed to Andropov "that he and I meet wherever and whenever he wants in order to sign an agreement banning U.S. and Soviet intermediate-range land-based nuclear missile weapons from the face of the earth.". Reagan announced his Zero-Zero proposal under which the United States and NATO would cancel deployment of Pershing II and ground-launched cruise missiles in Western Europe if the Soviets would dismantle its SS-20, SS-4, and SS-5 missiles. August 1954: Atomic Energy Act President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Atomic Energy Act in August 1954 to authorize the international exchange of information on the peaceful uses of atomic energy, and endorsed the development of commercial nuclear power. A flashpoint between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R throughout the Cold War, Berlin was the site of crises in 1948 (a Soviet blockade answered by a U.S. airlift) and 1961 (resulting in the construction of the Berlin Wall). The participants also discussed disarmament, German reunification through free elections, European security, and the need for East-West cultural and scientific exchange. Secretary Baker expressed hope for the success of Soviet reforms. In October 1964 Leonid Brezhnev orchestrated a palace coup that forced the resignation of Nikita Khrushchev. At various times, in various places, during the Cold War the hegemony of the U.S.S.R. was challenged by countries within the Soviet Bloc. January 1985: Geneva Meeting Secretary of State Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko met in Geneva in January 1985 to set an agenda for comprehensive arms control negotiations. The United States officially rejected the plan on February 10. As national security adviser and secretary of state, Henry A. Kissinger greatly influenced U.S. foreign policy from 1969 to 1976 under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. November 1982: Brezhnev's Funeral Brezhnev died on November 10, 1982. The United States never ratified the SALT II Treaty. Test your knowledge with this quiz. Under the Nassau Agreement (1962) between Macmillan and Pres. On December 29, the United States issued sanctions against the Polish Government and the Soviet Union for the imposition of martial law. The longest and most severe economic downturn ever experienced by the industrialized Western world, the Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. He also inspired subsequent independence movements throughout Africa. Vice President George H.W. His wide-ranging program of democratic reforms, Czechoslovakias Road to Socialism, was stymied by an invasion by Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact forces. Mao Zedong ruled China (1949-76) with his own version of Marxism, Maoism, which included the notion of permanent revolution and a conviction that the ruling group not become bourgeois. Kennan argued that the United States would never be able to cooperate successfully with the Soviets, because they saw the West as an enemy and would engage in a protracted battle to limit Western power and increase Soviet domination. His efforts led to the downfall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union. After World War II, Britain tried to maintain its role as a world power, but following the debacle of the Suez Crisis (1956) and as a result of the sluggish British economy, the demand for greater social expenditures, and the superpowers leap into the missile age, Britain decided it could no longer afford to keep up appearances in the Cold War world and stepped up the process of decolonization, cancelled its ballistic missile program, and relied more than ever on its special relationship with the United States. Every historical era has its share of larger-than-life leaders, and the Cold War was no exception, beginning with the Big ThreeFranklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalinwho led the the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, respectively, through World War II and into the Cold War. Only with the end of the Cold War would East and West Germany reunite, forming a single Germany in 1990.

The United States immediately condemned the action, and President Carter asked the Senate to delay consideration of SALT II. Che Guevara, another prominent figure in the Cuban Revolution, sought to export revolution to Bolivia as well as Africa (Congo). 1948-1949: Berlin Airlift In the summer of 1948, the Soviet Union cut off access to the Western sectors of Berlin, situated in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. May 1987: Draft START Treaty On May 8, 1987, the United States presented a draft START treaty in Geneva that proposed the reduction of U.S. and Soviet strategic nuclear arms by 50 percent. By October, Hungary and Czechoslovakia followed Poland's example, and, on November 9, the East German Government opened the Berlin Wall. May 1960: Paris Summit Eisenhower, Khrushchev, British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, and French President Charles de Gaulle met from May 16-17, 1960, in Paris. July 1984: Improvements to the Hotline The United States and the Soviet Union initialed a diplomatic note in Washington on July 17, 1984, agreeing to make technical improvements to the 21-year-old Direct Communications Link, or "hotline," between Washington and Moscow. Following discussions on strategic defense, they agreed to study the establishment of Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers, and to accelerate efforts to conclude an effective and verifiable treaty banning chemical weapons. The governments signed several other instruments addressing scientific cooperation, cultural exchanges, and other bilateral matters. The two reached several arms control agreements in principle, including a formula for 50 percent reductions in strategic nuclear offensive forces; a reduction to a 100 warhead global ceiling for longer range INF missiles, with no such missiles in Europe; and constraints on shorter-range INF missile systems. June 1967: Johnson and Kosygin Meeting Following Kosygin's visit to the United Nations, where he supported the Arab nations' proposals for ending the Middle East conflict in the aftermath of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Johnson met with him in Glassboro, New Jersey that same month.

December 1985: Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Proposal The United States and its NATO Allies presented a new proposal at the MBFR talks in Vienna in December 1985, offering to negotiate a joint reduction in U.S.-Soviet force levels in Central Europe and a subsequent 3-year "collective no-increase commitment" on Eastern and Western forces. These included introducing a new executive president and a new legislative element to be called the Congress of People's Deputies. Signed on May 14, 1955, the Warsaw Pact established the Warsaw Treaty Organization, a mutual defense alliance that was originally composed of the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. On March 3, Reagan instructed U.S. negotiators in Geneva to present a U.S. draft INF treaty. March 1986: Nuclear Test Moratorium Proposed Gorbachev announced in March 1986 that the Soviet Union would continue its nuclear test moratorium if the United States also refrained from staging tests. Many Third World rulers, however, chose the path of neutralism, leading to the formation of the Non-aligned Movement. June 5, 1947: Marshall's Offer of Economic Assistance In a speech given at Harvard University on June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall offered U.S. assistance for the postwar economic rehabilitation of all European nations, including those that had adopted Communist governments. May 1987: Agreement on Nuclear Risk Reduction On May 4, 1987, U.S. and Soviet negotiators in Geneva reached an agreement on a draft joint text to establish Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers in Washington and Moscow. December 1987: Gorbachev, Man of Year Time Magazine selected Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as "The Man of the Year" for 1987. November 1985: Geneva Summit In a summit in Geneva in November 1985, President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev discussed a four-part agenda that focused on: human rights, regional issues, bilateral matters, and arms control. August 1963: Limited Test Ban Treaty In August 1963, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty outlawing nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater.

Seeking to prevent a possible military takeover of the French government, the country handed the reins of its future to Charles de Gaulle, who oversaw the creation of a new constitution and a new republic in 1958. They agreed to improvements in the Berlin situation, including unhindered movement of people and goods between the Western Sectors of Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. September 1971: Agreement to Reduce Risk of Nuclear War The United States and the Soviet Union signed an Agreement on Measures to Reduce the Risk of Outbreak of Nuclear War on September 30, 1971. Imre Nagy lived in Russia for years before returning to his native Hungary in 1944 to help establish the postwar government. First Secretary of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev, ultimately consolidated power and became the de facto leader of the Soviet Union. A year later he nationalized the Suez Canal, precipitating the Suez Crisis. Ronald Reagan. January 1967: Treaty on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space The United States and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on January 27, 1967. Bush, and the struggle with the Soviet Union for the military, geopolitical, and moral high ground was central to their presidencies and those of the men who served between them, all of which featured their moments of high drama and confrontation with the Soviets. March 1989: Vienna Meeting Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, meeting in Vienna in March 1989, discussed human rights, arms control, and regional conflicts. The United States and Britain considered this an abrogation of agreements made at the Yalta Conference. He proposed regular surveillance flights over NATO and Warsaw Pact territories (Open Skies) and offered improved trade relations if the Soviet Union relaxed its emigration laws. Each of those rebellions had a dynamic leader. Gorbachev accepted Reagan's invitation to visit the United States in 1986, and Reagan agreed to visit the Soviet Union the following year. The seven other agreements covered a range of issues, such as expansion of U.S.-Soviet cultural and educational exchanges, U.S.-Soviet cooperation on peaceful uses of atomic power and on space exploration, maritime search and rescue, fisheries, transportation technology, and radio navigation. This framework would cover: a ban on chemical weapons, real force reductions at the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction (MBFR) talks, measures to enhance mutual confidence at the Conference on Confidence and Security-Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe (CDE), improvements in verification, close cooperation to strengthen international institutions and practices for nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, and a substantial reduction in U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals.

Eisenhower, fearing that the Soviets would provide large-scale assistance to Egypt, convinced Britain, France, and Israel to retreat. August 1953: Soviet Hydrogen Bomb On August 8, 1953, the Soviet Union announced it had hydrogen bomb capabilities. May 1989: President Bush's Speech on the Soviet Union In a public address on May 12, 1989, President George H.W. When the Soviets blockaded the Western-held sectors of West Berlin in June 1948, the United States responded with a massive airlift that kept West Berlin supplied with food, medicine, and fuel. This doctrine described the U.S. policy of supporting free peoples who resisted subjugation from armed minorities or outside pressures. He called for bilateral talks between the United States and the Soviet Union on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces. They agreed to meet again at a four-power summit in Paris in May 1960. The Soviets countered by supporting the creation of the German Democratic Republic in their zone. November 1958: Khrushchev's Berlin Demands Motivated by fears that the West planned to arm West Germany with nuclear weapons, in November 1958, Khrushchev demanded the termination of the four-power occupation of Berlin.

Nixon and Brezhnev also concluded agreements on public health; environmental cooperation; incidents at sea; exchanges in science, technology, education and culture; and a Declaration of Basic Principles of Mutual Relations. Test your knowledge of dictators around the world. His. May 1989: Secretary Baker's Visit to Moscow During Secretary Baker's visit to Moscow in May 1989, U.S. and Soviet officials discussed regional problems (Central America, Afghanistan, and the Middle East), human rights, bilateral matters, and transnational questions. Carter and Brezhnev also discussed other arms control questions, including the continuation of the SALT process. February-March 1982: Arms Reductions Refused by United States In early 1982, Brezhnev proposed a two-thirds cut in U.S. and Soviet medium-range nuclear weapons arsenals in Europe by 1990. May 1955: Creation of the Warsaw Pact In response to NATO actions in the West, including the rearming of West Germany and the expansion of the treaty organization, on May 1, 1955, the Soviet Union concluded a military defensive alliance known as the Warsaw Pact with Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. As prime minister (1957-63) Harold MacMillan worked to improve British-U.S. relations, which had been strained by the Suez Crisis. Under his leadership, the Soviets achieved parity with the U.S. in strategic nuclear weapons and arguably overtook the American space program. November 1952: U.S. Hydrogen Bomb On November 1, 1952, the United States announced it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb. He was revered by the masses throughout the Arab world.

The United States also wanted to discuss the idea that both sides should move away from deterrence based solely on the threat of massive nuclear retaliation, and towards increased reliance on non-threatening defenses. Politburo member Konstantin Chernenko succeeded him. Trained as an electrician, Lech Wasa became the leader of Polands first independent union. On April 8, 1987, Reagan ordered the Intelligence Review Board to assess the extent of Soviet bugging in the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow to determine whether it should be destroyed or rebuilt. Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev and U.S. Pres. January 1986: Televised Greetings President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev exchanged New Year's greetings to the peoples of the Soviet Union and the United States in two televised 5-minute statements in January 1986. The leaders also instructed their negotiators to work out a new and separate treaty on defense and space issues that would commit both sides to observe the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, as signed in 1972. Eisenhower and Khrushchev then engaged in substantive talks for 2 days at Camp David. July 1987: Soviet Draft Treaty In response to the U.S. draft treaty presented on May 8, in July 1987, the Soviet Union presented a detailed draft treaty to reduce strategic nuclear arms.