The Case against 1970s Détente and Arms Control: The Views of Some American Neoconservative Intellectuals

Abstract

In the 1970s, the United States’ leaders adopted a new policy of arms control and rapprochement with the former Soviet Union. That policy was met with fierce criticism by a segment of the American political and intellectual scene. This paper examines the arguments provided by the American Right and especially the US neoconservative movement against the policy of Détente and arms control. The present paper argues that the newly born neoconservative movement of the mid-1970s constructed a comprehensive body of justifications to cast doubt on the United States' foreign policy of Détente and the then ongoing SALT process.