Government Documents for You

Soviet-American Relations: The Détente Years, 1969-1972. Supervisory editor, Edward C. Keefer, editors, David C. Geyer, Douglas E. Selvage. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 2007.
SUDOC: S 1.2:SO 8/15

This joint documentary publication, collected and compiled by historians from both the U.S. Department of State and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, provided unprecedented insight into Soviet-American relations during a critical era in the history of the Cold War: the détente years (1969-1972). Henry Kissinger, the National Security Advisor, and Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, established a confidential channel to discuss the important issues of the day: arms control, Berlin, the Middle East, South Asia, China, and Vietnam. Through this dialogue, President Richard M. Nixon and General-Secretary Leonid Brezhnev were able to exchange ideas and information outside normal diplomatic and bureaucratic channels. This behind-the-scenes diplomacy helped to reduce tension in the Soviet-American relationship. This volume presents a selection of American and Soviet documents on the diplomacy that led to détente between the superpowers.

**Excerpt from book jacket**