The Cold War Rekindled

Background
● Human rights
○ Jimmy Carter took office in 1977 and made human rights an integral part of US
foreign policy
○ The US would only provide foreign aid if the USSR allowed dissent, Jewish
emigration, and a freer Poland
● The Camp David Accords were signed in 1978 which eased tensions between Israel and
Egypt
● Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
○ A second treaty capping the number of long range nukes was signed in 1979, but
the USSR invaded Afghanistan before it could be ratified
○ The invasion threatened the US oil supply, and Carter placed embargoes on the
USSR and was ready to have another draft
○ European nations were unwilling to get involved as they saw it as a regional
dispute, and the USSR was almost finished with an oil pipeline to Western Europe
○ Afghanistan was the USSR’s Vietnam; 100,000 troops fought for 8.5 years and
eventually withdrew in 1989
● Hostages in Iran
○ Iranian revolutionaries took the Americans at the embassy in Tehran hostage, and
America’s reputation was damaged after a failed rescue
○ The hostages were freed the day Reagan took office in 1981

The Reagan Years: From Revived Cold War to New Detente

● Reagan and the “evil empire”
○ Reagan deemed the Soviets an “evil empire;” they had spent the 70’s building up
their army, navy, and nukes
○ Under Reagan, America spent more on defense during peacetime than ever before
○ Weapons were given to Afghan rebels and Pakistan, sanctions were put on the
communist regime in Poland, and the ban on technology sales to Eastern Europe
was upheld
○ The US supported dictoral leaders throughout Latin America that were
anti-Communist (Contras), and invaded Grenada in 1983 due to the construciton
of a Cuban air base there
○ The idea of Star Wars (SDI) made the Soviets very uncomfortable
○ NUTS (Nuclear Utilization Theory)
■ Reagan’s idea that winning a limited nuclear war was “winnable”
 ● KAL 007 was a Korean plane that got shot down when it veered into Russian airspace in
1983
● Military actions
○ The US bombed military sites in Libya in response to “Libyan-sponsored”
terrorist actions
○ A coalition was sent to Lebanon during the civil war in 1982 but withdrew
following the terrorist bombings of the US embassay as well as French and
American military sites that killed hundreds of American marines
● Asserting American leadership
○ Following the outbreak of war between Iraq and Iran in 1980, the US oil supply
was threatened, and as a response the US escorted select tankers through the
Persian Gulf
○ The US was bent on keeping the USSR out of the Middle East
● Detente lasted from 1972 to 1979

Nuclear Arms Control

● The ultimate threat
○ The ultimate threat of nuclear war was lying in every post-WW2 conflict
○ A test-ban treaty was signed in 1963 that banned the testing of nukes in the
atmosphere
○ The US and Britain were the first nuclear powers, the Soviets in 1949, the French
in 1960, the People’s Republic of China in 1964, India in 1974, and then Israel,
Pakistan, and possibly North Korea and Iran
● Concerns about nuclear proliferation
○ As nuclear energy was being encouraged for environmental reasons, it became
evident that the plutonium from the reactors could be remade into nuclear
weapons (India)
○ Accidents at nuclear power stations (Three Mile Island, 1979 and Chernyobl,
1986) did not deter the spread of nuclear power
● Overkill
○ Each superpower spent tons of money on modernizing their nuclear systems
○ Multi-warhead systems were developed as well as new forms of conventional
weapons (cruise missiles and supersonic bombers)
○ After SALT, the countries built weapons in classes that weren’t banned
○ At the end of the 1980’s, each country had roughly 25,000 nuclear weapons,
roughly 12,000 of which were strategic (intercontinental)
○ A “hot line” was established between the White House and Kremlin in 1963 to
prevent a nuclear war due to human error or mechanical failure