ABSTRACT
Arms control has been a means of achieving United States (US) foreign policy objectives since the earliest days of the Republic. The US and the Soviet Union have engaged in Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) I and II, and are engaged in a new round of strategic arms reduction talks. The origins of SALT can be traced to increasing concerns in Washington during the mid-1960’s over growing Soviet strategic might. From a Soviet point of view, the initiation of SALT and the existence of strategic nuclear parity suggested by the talks themselves were likely to have a favorable impact on third party perceptions of the position of the Soviet Union in the world community of nations. Soviet domestic economic pressures, played a role in the Kremlin’s move toward SALT. SALT had an appeal within the context of detente or “peaceful coexistence.”
