ABSTRACT

There is no question in my mind that one of the casualties of the period was a balanced, careful, thoughtful approach to East-West relations. The sober teaching of the 1973-1974 period is that idealism did not, in the end, enhance the human rights of Jews in the Soviet Union (the emigration figure for 1975 was less than 40 per cent of that of 1973); that the undermining of SALT did not improve our military posture . . . The approach being legislated did not deter Soviet expansion. That increased, and the same domestic divisions that had spawned the confrontation prevented an effective response. The Soviet Union was not induced to behave in a more reasonable manner. The Administration had no illusions about Soviet purposes, but the domestic debate confused, instead of illuminated, the nation’s understanding of the complexity of our challenge.