How Did Ronald Reagan Become Détente?

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There is no way of telling where we would be had Nixon not created détente, been impeached over the Watergate scandal, had Gorbachev not risen to power or had Ronald Reagan not have been elected. It is impossible to tell. But we can explore their foreign policy decisions and their direct outcomes.
With the Cold War, well into its second decade there was increased motive to dissolve tensions and increase trade with these two global powers. Nixon like very president before him wanted to avoid a nuclear war and thus wanted Soviet relations improved upon. But on a more selfish note Nixon new that his domestic approval was low and that he needed to boost his voter support by focusing on the positive foreign relations rather than the negative press he was getting from civil rights leaders and Vietnam War opponents.
Dente became an interest of the USSR when the U.S created a positive interaction with China when Nixon visited China in February of 1972. This made the USSR nervous since they were at odds with China and the U.S and did not want their two opponents teamed up rights next to their nations border. So, the USSR
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Reagan was increasingly afraid that the Soviets were using the peace gained during détente to prepare for a strike on the U.S military systems to prevent the U.S from defending itself from nuclear attack. He insisted on the build of the military and that the only way for us to have peace was if we were prepared for there to be none. Reagan notoriously spent billions researching new technology to combat a potential Soviet attack and increased dramatically the production of nuclear weapons in the U.S. This ultimately lead to the increased national debt that swelled the economy creating what was known as Reaganomics (Freedman,

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