The second treaty that came out of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the Soviet Union and the United States established limits on the size and technology of the nuclear arsenals of the two nations, thus limiting the nuclear arms race and creating a more stable deterrence.
To facilitate the passage of an international treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons—the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968
Both the United States and the Soviet Union had adopted a strategy of nuclear deterrence, a policy that attempts to reduce the likelihood of nuclear war by threatening the other side with unacceptable levels of destruction. Deterrence, however, is undermined if one side gains a significant advantage in numbers of weapons or new technologies which would allow it to destroy its adversary in such a way that a counterattack becomes impossible. The purposes of SALT were thus to create a nuclear balance between the two superpowers and to limit the development of new technologies.
Despite mutual suspicion, a treaty (SALT I)
U.S. president Jimmy Carter (left) and Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty in 1979.
The talks, which were initiated by Richard M. Nixon’s administration and by the Aleksey Kosygin-Leonid Brezhnev Politburo, were begun under conditions of suspicion and animosity. Commitment to the talks further eroded as President Nixon became absorbed in the Watergate scandal and finally had to resign his office. Gerald R. Ford, who then assumed the presidency, entered the talks with some reluctance. He faced a great deal of opposition from members of his own Republican Party as well as opposition from a group of “hawkish” senators under the vocal leadership of Senator Scoop Jackson. Nevertheless, by 1974 two agreements were signed, one of which further limited deployment of ABM (antiballistic missile) systems in accord with the SALT I treaty. The other was the Threshold Test Ban Treaty,
Faced with a campaign for reelection, the Ford administration backed away from the talks, taking a tough stand to show the administration’s opposition to the Soviet Union. The election of 1976, however, was won by Jimmy Carter, who entered office with a strong commitment to arms control. He was severely limited, however, by ongoing Republican opposition to the SALT talks, continued opposition from Scoop Jackson, and by the formation in 1976 of the Committee on the Present Danger.
The final SALT II treaty included three major provisions. First, it agreed to equal limits on strategic launchers at 2,250. This limit required the Soviet Union to destroy 250 of its launchers while allowing the United States to add to its arsenal. The treaty set limits on MIRVs, limiting the number of warheads per missile to that of the current technological capability. Second, as a way of slowing the arms race, the treaty placed a short-term moratorium on the development of new weapons systems. This limited the testing and deployment of new weapons systems but did exclude testing of cruise missiles, where the United States had a distinct advantage. Likewise, the treaty excluded air-launched cruise missiles, another area where the United States had superiority. Third, it included a statement of principles that pledged the two sides to actual arms reduction as the focus of what were intended to be the SALT III talks.
The treaty also included provisions for verification of compliance with the treaty. Neither side was permitted to interfere in intelligence gathering related to weapons deployment and development as related to the treaty guidelines. While this agreement was viewed by other countries as a positive first step toward a safer world, the agreement continued to meet opposition by the public and the Senate in the United States. Presented with the treaty, the Senate initially refused to consent to its ratification. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 to quell a violent revolution, suspicion of the Soviet Union and its motives further increased, and all possibility of senatorial consent was lost.
Carter lost to Ronald Reagan
Reagan’s bold proposal for Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) initiated a period in which he and his counterpart in the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev,
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Cimbala, Stephen J., ed. Strategic Arms Control After SALT. Wilmington, Del.: SR Books, 1989. A discussion of arms control negotiations in the wake of the SALT agreements. -
Geyer, Alan. The Idea of Disarmament: Rethinking the Unthinkable. Elgin, Ill.: Brethren Press, 1985. Includes a critical discussion of SALT II in the context of the history of nuclear arms control policy. -
Morris, Charles R. Iron Destinies, Lost Opportunities: The Arms Race Between the USA and USSR. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Places a discussion of SALT within the broader context of American and Soviet relationships. -
Panofsky, W. K. H. Arms Control and SALT II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979. A very specific discussion of the issues confronting the SALT II negotiators. -
Smith, Gerald. Doubletalk: The Story of SALT I. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980. Includes an analysis of SALT II as a follow-up to SALT I by one of the chief negotiators of SALT I. -
Talbott, Strobe. Endgame: The Inside Story of SALT II. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. A very detailed account of the SALT II negotiations. -
Thomson, David B. A Guide to the Nuclear Arms Control Treaties. Los Alamos, N.Mex.: Los Alamos Historical Society, 2001. Overview of the nuclear arms control treaties negotiated since the end of World War II.
Nations Agree to Rules on Biological Weapons
SALT I Is Signed
Détente with the Soviet Union
U.S.-Soviet Summit
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
Bush Announces Nuclear Arms Reductions
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
United States and Russia Reach Nuclear Arms Reduction Agreement