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ABSTRACT
Nearly fifty years ago on 22 June 1973, US President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev signed the US-Soviet Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War. This bilateral instrument established concrete rules of the road for reducing the risk of nuclear use by means of mutual restraint and dialogue. However, despite being the product of more than a year of intense negotiations between the White House and the Kremlin, one of the Agreement’s primary architects, Henry Kissinger, later dismissed it as having ‘achieved little that was positive’. This article examines why Nixon and Kissinger pursued this Agreement in the first place and the extent to which they accomplished their goals.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflicts of interest are reported by the authors(s).
Notes
1 Agreement Between the United States of America and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Prevention of Nuclear War, 22 June 1973, (hereafter “Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War”), https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/isn/5186.htm accessed: 26 November 2021.
2 Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War, Article IV.
3 Daryl Kimball, ‘Loosening the Nuclear Knot’, Arms Control Today November 2022, https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2022-11/focus/loosening-nuclear-knot accessed: 21 February 2022.
4 Stephen R. Twigge, ‘Operation Hullabaloo: Henry Kissinger, British Diplomacy, and the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War’, Diplomatic History 33, no. 4 (September 2009): 689-701; Andrew Scott, Allies Apart: Heath, Nixon, and the Anglo-American Relationship (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 108-139. These sources offer the most comprehensive treatments of the Agreement, but it is also addressed in brief in Jussi Hanhimäki, The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 278-284; Richard Nixon RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 1039-1040; and Raymond Garthoff, Détente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan Rev. ed. (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1994), 376-386, among others.
5 Henry Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, Kindle edition (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982), location 5825-6077.
6 Francis Gavin, Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America’s Atomic Age (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012), 102.
7 Garthoff, Détente and Confrontation, 386.
8 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5827, and location 6058.
9 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5827.
10 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 041-043, June 22, 1973 White House Tapes; Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum (hereafter RNPLM), https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/41/conversation-041-043 [relevant section transcribed by the author] accessed: 26 November 2021.
11 An important area for future study, albeit one that is outside the scope of the present article, will be to examine this negotiation of this Agreement and the forces that drove and constrained this process from the Soviet perspective.
12 Noam Kochavi, ‘Researching détente: new opportunities, contested legacy’, Cold War History 8, no. 4 (November 2008): 419.
13 Barbara Keys, ‘Henry Kissinger: The Emotional Statesman’, Diplomatic History 35, no. 4 (2011): 592.
14 Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History (New York: Basic Books, 2017), 5.
15 Kochavi, “Researching détente’, 419.
16 See for instance, James Cameron, The Double Game: The Demise of America’s First Missile Defense System and the Rise of Strategic Arms Limitation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018); Dominic Sandbrook, ‘Salesmanship and Substance: The Influence of Domestic Policy and Watergate’, in Fredrik Logevall and Andrew Preston (eds), Nixon in the World: American Foreign Relations, 1969-1977 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 85-103; David Allen, “Realism and Malarky: Henry Kissinger’s State Department, Détente, and Domestic Consensus’, Journal of Cold War Studies 17, no. 3 (2015): 184-219; Dan Caldwell, ‘The Legitimation of the Nixon-Kissinger Grand Design Strategy’, Diplomatic History 33, no. 4 (September 2009): 633-652; David Tal, ‘“Absolutes” and “Stages” in the Making and Application of Nixon’s SALT Policy’, Diplomatic History 37, no. 5 (2013): 1090-1116; and Hanhimäki, The Flawed Architect, among numerous others.
17 Executive Office Building, Conversation 417-003, 5 March 1973; RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/417/conversation-417-003, accessed: 25 June 2023; Julian Zelizer, ‘Détente and Domestic Politics’, Diplomatic History 33, no. 4 (2009): 657.
18 Document 159, Memorandum of Conversation (hereafter MoC), 24 April 1972, in Edward Keefer et al. (eds), Foreign Relations of the United States (hereafter FRUS), 1969-1976, Volume XIV, Soviet Union, October 1971-May 1972 (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 2006), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d159 accessed: 26 November 2021.
19 Ibid.
20 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5825.
21 Francis Gavin, ‘Nuclear Nixon: Ironies, Puzzles, and the Triumph of Realpolitik’, in Logevall and Preston (eds.), Nixon in the World, 127.
22 Douglas Brinkley and Luke Nichter (eds), The Nixon Tapes: 1971-1972 (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), 495.
23 Nixon, RN, 734.
24 Richard Nixon and Frank Gannon, ‘Frank Gannon’s interview with Richard Nixon, April 7, 1983, part 3’, UGA Special Collections Libraries Oral Histories, https://georgiaoralhistory.libs.uga.edu/gannix/gannix_0345 accessed: 24 June 2022.
25 Ibid.
26 William Burr (ed.), The Kissinger Transcripts: The Top-Secret Talks with Beijing and Moscow (Washington DC: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book, 2007), https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB233/index.htm accessed: 26 November 2021.
27 Barbara Keys, ‘Henry Kissinger: The Emotional Statesman’, Diplomatic History 35, no. 4 (2011): 588.
28 Document 159, MoC, 24 April 1972, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d159 accessed: 26 November 2021; Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, ‘Breakfast Conversation between the President, Ambassador Dobrynin, and Mr. Kissinger’, 18 May 1972, MoC, National Security Council Files (hereafter NSC Files). Box 494, Dobrynin/Kissinger 1972 – Vol. 12 [Part 2], RNPLM, retrieved via Digital National Security Archive (hereafter DNSA), https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/breakfast-conversation-between-president/docview/1679126060/se-2, accessed 26 November 2021.
29 Document 159, MoC, 24 April 1972, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d159 accessed: 26 November 2021.
30 Richard Moss, Nixon’s Back Channel to Moscow: Confidential Diplomacy and Détente (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2017), 46.
31 Anatoly Dobrynin, In Confidence: Moscow’s Ambassador to America’s Six Cold War Presidents (New York: Times Books, 1995), 277.
32 National Security Council Staff, ‘Non-use of Nuclear Weapons’, 12 September 1972, MoC, NSC Files, HAK Office Files. Box 74, HAK Trip to Moscow September 1972 Memcons (Originals), RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/non-use-nuclear-weapons/docview/1679126462/se-2 accessed: 28 February 2022.
33 United States Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Soviet Proposal for Treaty on Nuclear Weapons; Includes Soviet Note and Proposed Treaty], 12 May 1972, MoC, NSC Files. Box 494, Dobrynin/Kissinger 1972 - Vol. 11, RNPLM, 1, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/soviet-proposal-treaty-on-nuclear-weapons/docview/1679125837/se-2, accessed: 28 February 2022.
34 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5854.
35 Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Soviet-U.S. Proposals], Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, 6 May 1972, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Anatoli[y] Dobrynin File. Box 27. May 1972-June 1972, RNPLM, 2, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/soviet-u-s-proposals/docview/1679055438/se-2 accessed: 28 February 2022.
36 Hanhimäki, The Flawed Architect, 275; Document 53, ‘Minutes of a National Security Council Meeting’, 19 November 1970 in David Patterson, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969-1972 (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 2012), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v41/d53 accessed: 28 February 2022.
37 Evanthis Hatzivassiliou, ‘The Crisis of NATO Political Consultation, 1973-1974’, Journal of Cold War Studies 19, no. 3 (2017): 107.
38 See for instance, Tad Szulc, ‘Mansfield Asks 50% Cuts in U.S. Force in Europe’, The New York Times, 12 May 1971, https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/12/archives/mansfield-asks-50-cut-in-us-force-in-europe-says-reduction-by-end.html accessed: 28 June 2023.
39 Document 63, ‘Memorandum for the Record’, 13 May 1971, in Patterson, et al. (eds), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume XLI, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v41/d63 accessed: 28 June 2023. Document 71, ‘National Security Decision Memorandum’, 22 September 1971 in Patterson, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1972,Volume XLI, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v41/d71 accessed: 28 February 2022.
40 Document 5, ‘Minutes of a National Security Council Meeting’, 19 February 1969, in Edward Keefer, et al. (eds), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume XXXII, SALT I, 1969-1972 (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 2010), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v32/d5 accessed: 28 February 2022; Document 53, ‘Minutes of a National Security Council Meeting’, 19 November 1970, in Patterson, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XLI, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v41/d53 accessed: 28 February 2022.
41 Timothy Andrew Sayle, ‘The “Blue Chip” and the Little Blue Bird: Change and Continuity in NATO Policy from Nixon to Trump’, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 4 April 2019, https://www.fpri.org/article/2019/04/the-blue-chip-and-the-little-blue-bird-change-and-continuity-in-nato-policy-from-nixon-to-trump/ accessed: 28 February 2022.
42 Luke Nichter, Richard Nixon and Europe: The Reshaping of the Postwar Atlantic World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 107.
43 Kissinger, The Years of Upheaval, location 5854; Document 223, ‘Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and his Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)’, 12 May 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d223 accessed: 28 June 2023.
44 Document 296, ‘Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon’, 28 May 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d296 accessed: 26 November 2021; Document 299, ‘MoC’, 29 May 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d299 accessed: 26 November 2021.
45 Document 15, ‘Letter from Soviet General Secretary to President Nixon’, 20 July 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume XV, Soviet Union, June 1972-August 1974 (Washington, DC United States Government Printing Office, 2011), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d15 accessed: 26 November 2021.
46 Ibid.; Basic Principles of Relations Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, May 29, 1972, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/text-the-basic-principles-relations-between-the-united-states-america-and-the-union-soviet accessed: 28 February 2022.
47 Loose Minute: Discussion with Dr. Kissinger (includes ‘Record of Discussions with Dr. Kissinger at Washington on 28th July 1972’) Cabinet Secretary, 31 July 1972, United Kingdom National Archives (hereafter TNA), PREM15/1362, 12, retrieved via DNSA. https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/discussions-with-dr-kissinger-at-washington/docview/1679125587/se-2 accessed 26 November 2021.
48 Document 17, ‘MoC’, 21 July 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d17, accessed: 26 November 2021.
49 Document 236, ‘Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff’, Undated, in Keefer et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d236, accessed: 28 February 2022.
50 Hal Brands, ‘The World in a Word: The Rise and Fall of Détente’, Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1, no. 1 (1998): 48
51 Brinkley and Nichter, The Nixon Tapes, 1971-1972, 357.
52 Evelyn Goh, ‘Kissinger, Nixon, and the ‘Soviet Card’ in the U.S. Opening to China, 1971-1974’, Diplomatic History 29, issue 3 (2005): 476.
53 Document 236, ‘Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff’, Undated, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d236, accessed: 28 February 2022.
54 National Security Council Staff , ‘Discussion with Huang Hua; Includes Talking Points,’ 26 July 1972, MoC, Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State, Records of the Policy Planning Staff, Director’s Files (Winston Lord), 1969-1977. Box 327. China Exchanges 26 June – 17 October 1972, National Archives, College Park, MD (hereafter NARA), retrieved via the DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/discussion-with-huang-hua-includes-talking-points/docview/1679125242/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
55 Ibid.
56 Loose Minute: Discussion with Dr. Kissinger, 31 July 1972.
57 See ‘44. Letter: Cromer to Brimelow’, 7 March 1973 in Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historians (eds), ‘Operation Hullabaloo: Britain’s role in Kissinger’s nuclear diplomacy’, 31 August, 2006, https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/hpdfba_9 also cited in Twigge, ‘Operation Hullabaloo’, 694.
58 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5983.
59 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5901; Thomas Brimelow, conversation with Dr. Kissinger, Washington, 10 August 1972, TNA, PREM15/1362, 3-4, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/23794-cabinet-secretary-burke-trend-memorandum-prime-minister-anglo-american-nuclear accessed: 28 February 2022.
60 Document 30, ‘Memorandum from Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)’, 21 August 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d30 accessed: 26 November 2021.
61 Record of a Discussion with Dr. Kissinger on Thursday, 14th September 1972 (Includes Attachments), Cabinet Secretary, 15 September 1972, TNA, PREM15/1273.
62 Document 34, ‘MoC’, 5 September 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d34 accessed: 28 February 2022.
63 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 771-002, 6 September 1972, White House Tapes, RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/771/conversation-771-002 [relevant section transcribed by the author] accessed:28 February 2022.
64 National Security Council Staff, [Non-use of Nuclear Weapons], 12 September 1972, MoC, NSC Files. HAK Office Files. Box 74, HAK Trip to Moscow Sept. 1972 Memcons (Originals), RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/non-use-nuclear-weapons/docview/1679126462/se-2 accessed 26 November 2021.
65 Document 55 ‘MoC’, 2 October 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d55 accessed: 26 November 2021.
66 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5929; document 55, ‘Memorandum of Conversation’, 2 October 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d55 accessed: 28 February 2022.
67 Ibid.
68 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5935.
69 Document 55, ‘Memorandum of Conversation’, 2 October 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d55 accessed: 28 February 2022.
70 Document 56, ‘Memorandum for the President’s File’, 2 October 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d56 accessed: 28 February 2022.
71 Document 71, ‘Letter from President Nixon to Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev’, 18 December 1972, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d71 accessed: 28 February 2022.
72 Document 22, Record of a Discussion at Camp David on Friday 2 February 1973, AMU 3/548/8, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historians (eds), ‘Operation Hullabaloo: Britain’s role in Kissinger’s nuclear diplomacy’, 31 August 2006, https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/hpdfba_9 28 June 2023.
73 Ibid.
74 Ibid.
75 Document 75, ‘Message from the Soviet Leadership to President Nixon’, Undated [handwritten note indicates 28 January 1973] in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d75 accessed: 26 November 2021.
76 National Security Council Staff, [Discussion with Zhou Enlai of China-U.S. Relations, Nuclear Issues, and Southeast Asia; Includes Norodom Sihanouk’s Five-Point Declaration on Cambodia], 16 February 1973, MoC, HAK Office Files. Box 98, HAK China Trip February 1973 Memcons & Reports (Originals), RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/discussion-with-zhou-enlai-china-u-s-relations/docview/1679137802/se-2 accessed 26 November 2021.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid.
79 Ibid.
80 Ibid.
81 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 043-157, 21 February 1973, White House Tapes; RNPLM, [relevant section transcribed by the author], https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/43/conversation-043-157 accessed: 26 November 2021.
82 Nichter, Richard Nixon and Europe, 108.
83 Document 77, ‘Note from Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)’, 20 February 1973 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d77 accessed: 26 November 2021.
84 Ibid.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid.
87 Document 78, ‘Letter from Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev to President Nixon’, 21 February 1973 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d78 accessed: 26 November 2021.
88 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 043-157, 21 February 1973, White House Tapes; RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/43/conversation-043-157 [relevant section transcribed by the author] accessed: 26 November 2021.
89 Document 78, ‘Letter from Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev to President Nixon’, 21 February 1973 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d78 accessed: 26 November 2021.
90 Michael Dobbs, King Richard: Nixon and Watergate: An American Tragedy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021), 104.
91 Andrew Kohut, ‘How the Watergate crisis eroded public support for Richard Nixon’, Pew Research Center, 8 August 2014, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/09/25/how-the-watergate-crisis-eroded-public-support-for-richard-nixon/ accessed: 28 June 2023.
92 Hal Brands, ‘The World in a Word: The Rise and Fall of Détente’, Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1, no. 1 (1998): 50.
93 Executive Office Building, Conversation 417-003, 5 March 1973, [Relevant section transcribed by author].
94 National Security Council Staff, [Currency Crisis; Nuclear Understanding; MBFR; NATO [Attachments Not Included]], 5 March 1973, MoC, NSC Files, HAK Office Files. Box 62, U.K. MemCons 1973 January-April, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/currency-crisis-nuclear-understanding-mbfr-nato/docview/1679086477/se-2, accessed 26 November 2021.
95 Document 44, ‘Letter: Cromer to Brimelow’, 7 March 1973 in Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historians (eds), ‘Operation Hullabaloo: Britain’s role in Kissinger’s nuclear diplomacy’, 31 August 2006, https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/hpdfba_9, 7 accessed: 28 February 2022.
96 [Currency Crisis; Nuclear Understanding; MBFR; NATO [Attachments Not Included]], 5 March 1973.
97 Ibid.
98 Ibid.
99 Ibid.
100 Ibid.
101 Ibid.
102 Document 81, ‘MoC’, 8 March 1973, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d81 accessed: 26 November 2021.
103 Ibid.
104 Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Changes to Text of British Proposal], 15 March 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 19, 15-27 March 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/changes-text-british-proposal/docview/1679133109/se-2, access: 26 November 2021.
105 Ibid.
106 Document 86, ‘Editorial Note’, Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d86 accessed: 26 November 2021.
107 Ibid.
108 Ibid; Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Discussion with Anatolii Dobrynin of Nuclear Treaty, Jewish Emigration, and Talks with Madame Binh; Includes Draft Treaty and Messages from Leonid Brezhnev to President Nixon]. Draft of agreement in Tab A, 10 April 1973, MoC, NSC Files. Box 496, Dobrynin/Kissinger April 1973 Vol. 16 (part 2), RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/discussion-with-anatolii-dobrynin-nuclear-treaty/docview/1679125580/se-2, accessed: 26 November 2021.
109 Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Document Changes], 2 April 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 19, 2-6 April 1973, RNPLM, 1, 2, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/document-changes/docview/1679133891/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
110 Document 86. “Editorial Note,” in Keefer, et al., eds. FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/pg_296 accessed: 26 November 2021.
111 [Document Changes], 2 April 1973.
112 Ibid.
113 Ibid.
114 [Discussion with Anatolii Dobrynin of Nuclear Treaty, Jewish Emigration, and Talks with Madame Binh; Includes Draft Treaty and Messages from Leonid Brezhnev to President Nixon], 10 April 1973.
115 Kissinger, who was apparently genuinely surprised, responded, “Oh, God, really?” Ibid.
116 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 892-11, 10 April 1973, White House Tapes; RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/892 [relevant section transcribed by the author] accessed: 31 October 2023.
117 Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Leonid Brezhnev’s Visit to U.S. and Henry Kissinger’s Visit to Soviet Union], 11 April 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 19, 7-11 April 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/leonid-brezhnevs-visit-u-s-henry-kissingers/docview/1679133594/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021; Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Text of Proposal on Prevention of Nuclear War], 12 April 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 19, 12-18 April 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/text-proposal-on-prevention-nuclear-war/docview/1679133635/se-2 accessed: 28 February 2022; Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Henry Kissinger’s Visit to Soviet Union; Proposed Agreement on Prevention of Nuclear War], 16 April, 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 19, 12-18 April 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/henry-kissingers-visit-soviet-union-proposed/docview/1679132694/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
118 Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Proposed Agreement to Prevent Nuclear War], 17 April 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 19, 12-18 April 1973, RNPML, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/proposed-agreement-prevent-nuclear-war/docview/1679132677/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
119 [Year of Europe; Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions; Prevention of Nuclear War Agreement; Includes Attachments], 19 April 1973, MoC, Henry A. Kissinger Office Files. Box 62, U.K. MemCons, January-April 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/year-europe-mutual-balanced-force-reductions/docview/1679087308/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
120 ‘Loose minute: Discussion with Dr. Kissinger’ [Includes Document Entitled “Personal Record of a Discussion in the British Embassy, Washington, D.C. on 19th April, 1973”], United Kingdom Cabinet Secretary, 24 April 1973, TNA, PREM 15/1362, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/discussion-with-dr-kissinger-includes-document/docview/1679125368/se-2, accessed: 26 November 2021.
121 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 911-01, 3 May 1973, White House Tapes; RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/911 [relevant section transcribed by author] accessed: 25 June 2023.
122 ‘Loose minute: Discussion with Dr. Kissinger’, 24 April 1973.
123 Nixon appears to say, “Henry, we all thought it through, we had to do this for another [play?] like SALT,” an apparent reference to the Agreement’s utility as a carrot to elicit other desired outcomes from the USSR. Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 911-01, 3 May 1973, [relevant section transcribed by author].
124 ‘Loose minute: Discussion with Dr. Kissinger’ 24 April 1973.
125 Document 104, ‘MoC’, 5 May 1973, Footnote 4 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d104 accessed: 26 November 2021.
126 Document 106, ‘Message from the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft), 6 May 1973, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d106 accessed: 26 November 2021.
127 Ibid.
128 Document 108, ‘MoC’, 7 May 1973 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d108 accessed: 26 November 2021.
129 Ibid.
130 Conversation 919-017, Audiotape 919 (NARA Identifier #7450097), Oval Office Sound Recordings, White House Tapes, RNPLM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6y7awmku1o accessed: 28 February 2022.
131 Document 115, ‘Conversation Between President Nixon and his Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), 11 May 1973 in Keefer, et al., eds. FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d115 accessed: 26 November 2021.
132 Document 116, ‘Memorandum from the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon’, 11 May 1973, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976,Volume XV,, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d116 accessed: 26 November 2021.
133 ‘NSC Staff, [Discussion of Southeast Asia with Huang Hua; Attachments Not Included], 27 May 1973, MoC, Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State, Records of the Policy Planning Staff, Director’s Files (Winston Lord), 1969-1977. Box 328, China Exchanges 16 May - 13 June 1973, NARA, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/discussion-with-huang-zhen-on-bilateral-relations/docview/1679125625/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
134 Ibid.
135 NSC Staff, [Discussion with Huang Zhen on Bilateral Relations and Soviet-U.S. Summit Meeting; Includes Attachments], 14 June 1973, MoC, Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State, Records of the Policy Planning Staff, Director’s Files (Winston Lord), 1969-1977. Box 328, China Exchanges – 14 June – 9 July 1973, NARA, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/discussion-with-huang-zhen-on-bilateral-relations/docview/1679125625/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
136 Ibid.
137 Ibid.
138 Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [Statement on Prevention of Nuclear War Agreement], 19 June 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 20, 19-24 June 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/statement-on-prevention-nuclear-war-agreement/docview/1679067101/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
139 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 041-016, 19 June 1973; White House Tapes: RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/41/conversation-041-016 [relevant section transcribed by the author] accessed: 26 November 2021.
140 Ibid.
141 Document 127, ‘Memorandum for the President’s File from the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs’, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d127 accessed: 26 November 2021.
142 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 6132.
143 ‘President Nixon’s Daily Diary’, 22 June 1973. A list of congresspeople in attendance is reproduced in Appendix A. https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/PDD/1973/102%20June%2016-30%201973.pdf accessed: 26 November 2021.
144 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 946-005, 22 June 1973, White House Tapes: RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/946 accessed: 26 November 2021.
145 Ibid.
146 Ibid.
147 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 041-043, 22 June 1973 [relevant section transcribed by the author].
148 Ibid.
149 Ibid.; see, for example, Bernard Gwertzman, ‘US., Soviet Sign Pact to Reduce Possibility of Nuclear Conflict with Each Other Or A 3d Nation’, The New York Times 22 June 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/23/archives/stress-on-trust-both-promise-to-avoid-provocations-thatcould-bring.html accessed: 26 November 2021.
150 White House Telephone, Conversation 041-041, 22 June 1973, White House Tapes; RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/041 [relevant sections transcribed by author] accessed: 25 June 2023.
151 Document 140, ‘UKDEL NATO tel 460, NATO: Agreement Between the US and The USSR on Prevention of Nuclear War’, 22 June 1973 in Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historians (eds), ‘Operation Hullabaloo: Britain’s role in Kissinger’s nuclear diplomacy’, 31 August 2006, https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/hpdfba_9 accessed: 26 November 2021; Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, [U.S.-Soviet Summit Meeting; Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II], 18 June 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 20, 12-18 June 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/statement-on-prevention-nuclear-war-agreement/docview/1679067101/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021; US Secretary of State, ‘Agreement on Prevention of Nuclear War’, 22 June 1973 https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=67279&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 26 November 2021; US Mission to NATO, ‘NAC Meeting June 22: Agreement on Preventing Nuclear War’, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=67423&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 26 November 2021.
152 US Secretary of State, ‘NAC Meeting June 22: Agreement on Preventing Nuclear War’, 23 June1973, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=67281&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 28 February 2022.
153 Ibid.
154 Ibid.
155 Ibid.
156 Document 140, ‘UKDEL NATO tel 460, 22 June 22 1973.
157 Ibid.
158 American Embassy in Bonn, ‘Discussion with Defense Minister Leber on Defense Matters’, 5 July 1973, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=49686&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 26 November 2021; Assistant to the President for National Security, [Balance of Payments; Cambodia; Nuclear War Agreement], 15 July 1973, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File. Box 21, 13-16 July 1973, RNPLM, retrieved via DNSA, https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/balance-payments-cambodia-nuclear-war-agreement/docview/1679068357/se-2 accessed: 26 November 2021.
159 American Embassy in Bonn, ‘West German Press Commentary on US-Soviet Summit’, 28 June 1973, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=68170&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 26 November 2021.
160 Flora Lewis, ‘Soviet Bid for Police Role With the U.S. Is Reported’, The New York Times, 22 July 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/22/archives/soviet-bid-for-police-role-with-the-us-is-reported-soviet-bid-for.html accessed: 28 February 2022; American Embassy in Moscow, ‘Soviets Acknowledge Condominium Concerns of Third Countries’, 25 July 1973, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=49292&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 28 February 2022. The French were genuinely opposed to the Agreement. See American Embassy in the Hague, ‘Agreement on Prevention of Nuclear War’, 1 August 1973, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=13947&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 28 February 2022 and American Embassy in Brussels, ‘EC-Nine Consideration of Defense Related Issues’, 6 August 1973, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=15765&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 28 February 2022..
161 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 041-043, 22 June 1973 [relevant section transcribed by the author].
162 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, locations 5825.
163 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, Location 5828.
164 Robert Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (New York: Harper Collins, 2007), 480.
165 Document 130, ‘Memorandum of Conversation’, 23 June 1973 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d130 accessed: 26 November 2021.
166 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 911-01, 3 May 1973, [relevant section transcribed by author]; Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 946-005, 22 June 1973 [relevant section transcribed by author].
167 “Excerpts From Kissinger Briefing on the U.S.-Soviet Plan to Avert Nuclear Clash,” The New York Times, 23 June 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/23/archives/excerpts-from-kissinger-briefing-on-ussoviet-plan-to-avert-nuclear.html?searchResultPosition=3 accessed: 28 June 2023. Importantly, Anatoly Dobrynin also notes in his memoirs that ‘The Nixon Administration tried not to advertise [the Agreement] too much given the wariness of its European allies’ (translation by the author). See A. F. Dobrynin, Sugubo doveritel’no: Posol v Vashingtone pri shesti prezidentakh SShA (1962-1986) [Strictly confidential: Ambassador in Washington to six US presidents (1962-1986)] (Moskva, Avtor: 1996).
168 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 911-01, 3 May 1973, [relevant section transcribed by author]; Caldwell, ‘The Legitimation of the Nixon-Kissinger Grand Design and Grand Strategy’, 648.
169 Robert Kleiman, ‘Special Relationships’, The New York Times, 11 December 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/11/archives/special-relationships.html accessed: 28 February 2022.
170 Andrew J. Pierre, ‘What Happened to the Year of Europe?’ The World Today 30, no. 3 (March 1974): 112.
171 Cameron, The Double Game; Asaf Siniver, Nixon, Kissinger, and U.S. foreign policy making: the machinery of crisis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008); Moss, Nixon’s Back Channel to Moscow, Hanhimäki, The Flawed Architect; Jeremi Suri, ‘From Isolation to Engagement: American Diplomacy and the Opening to China, 1969-1972’ in Robert Hutchings and Jeremi Suri (eds), Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
172 Suri, ‘From Isolation to Engagement’, 105.
173 Ibid., 104, 115.
174 Ibid., 105.
175 [Year of Europe; Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions; Prevention of Nuclear War Agreement; Includes Attachments], 19 April 1973; Document 44, ‘Letter: Cromer to Brimelow’, 7 March 1973.
176 Trend to Heath, Discussions with Dr Kissinger at Washington, Annex, 31 July 1972, 19, PREM 15/1362, as cited in Twigge, ‘Operation Hullabaloo’, 692 and United Kingdom Cabinet Secretary, ‘Discussions with Dr. Kissinger at Washington’, 31 July 1972.
177 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 5854; Document 223, ‘Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and his Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)’, 12 May 1972 in Keefer et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d223 accessed: 29 February 2022.
178 [Discussion with Huang Zhen on Bilateral Relations and Soviet-U.S. Summit Meeting; Includes Attachments], 14 June 1973.
179 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 911-01, 3 May 1973, [relevant section transcribed by author]; Document 236, Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff, Undated, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XIV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v14/d236, accessed: 28 February 2022.
180 Goh, ‘Nixon, Kissinger, and the “Soviet Card”’, 492.
181 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 041-043, 22 June 1973 [relevant section transcribed by the author].
182 Document 209, Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Kissinger and the Soviet Ambassador (Dobrynin), 19 October 1973 in Edward Keefer (ed.), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XXV, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1973 (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 2011), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v25/d209 accessed: 28 February 2022.
183 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 12281.
184 Hatzivassiliou, ‘The Crisis of NATO Political Consultation, 1973-1974’, 104-133; Document 274, ‘Message from President Nixon to Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev’, 25 October 1973 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XXV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v25/d274 accessed: 26 November 2021; US Mission to NATO, ‘The Atlantic Alliance and the Middle East Crisis’, 28 October 1973, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=118170&dt=2472&dl=1345 accessed: 26 November 2021.
185 John Herbers, ‘Nixon’s Motives in Alert Questioned and Defended’, The New York Times, 26 October 1973; Walter Lacquer, ‘Détente: What’s left of it?’, The New York Times, 16 December 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/16/archives/detente-whats-left-of-it-detente.html accessed: 28 February 2022.
186 ‘Atlantic Tremors’, The New York Times, 19 November 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/19/archives/atlantic-tremors.html accessed: 28 February 2022.
187 Richard Parker (ed.), The October War: A Retrospective (Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 2001) 228.
188 Document 121, ‘Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon’, undated, in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d121 accessed: 28 June 2023.
189 Document 56, ‘Memorandum for the President’s File’, 2 October 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d56 accessed: 28 February 2022.
190 Document 22, Record of a Discussion at Camp David on Friday 2 February 1973, AMU 3/548/8, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historians (eds), ‘Operation Hullabaloo: Britain’s role in Kissinger’s nuclear diplomacy’, 31 August, 2006, https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/hpdfba_9 accessed: 31 October 2023
191 Document 77, ‘Note from Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)’, 20 February 1973 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d77 accessed: 26 November 2021.
192 Document 71, ‘Letter From President Nixon to Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev’, 18 December 1972 in Keefer, et al. (eds), FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume XV, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v15/d71 accessed: 28 February 2022.
193 James Cameron, “Soviet-American Strategic Arms Limitation and the Limits of Co-operative Competition, Diplomacy and Statecraft 33, no. 1 (2022): 117.
194 Tal, “’Absolutes’ and ‘Stages’,” 1116.
195 Ibid. 1090
196 Ibid. 1090
197 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 934-14, 7 June 1973, White House Tapes; RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/934/conversation-934-014 accessed: 28 February 2022
198 Hanhimäki, The Flawed Architect, 36.
199 Caldwell, ‘The Legitimation of the Nixon-Kissinger Grand Design Strategy’, 651.
200 Garthoff, Détente and Confrontation, 386.
201 Oval Office Telephone, Conversation 041-043, June 22, 1973 [relevant section transcribed by the author].
202 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, location 6077; as Nixon acknowledged to Ziegler on 22 June 1973, ‘Every war starts by breaking a treaty’. See White House Telephone, Conversation 041-041, 22 June 1973, White House Tapes; RNPLM, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/041..
203 Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, Location 5827.
204 Janice Gross Stein, ‘Crisis Management: Looking Back to Look Forward’, Political Psychology 29, no. 4 (2008): 554.
205 Gavin, Nuclear Statecraft, 102; Douglas Brinkley and Luke Nichter, The Nixon Tapes: 1973, Kindle Edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), 667.
206 Katie Rogers and David Sanger, ‘Biden calls the “prospect of Armageddon” the highest since Cuban missile crisis’, The New York Times, 6 October 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/world/europe/biden-armageddon-nuclear-war-risk.html accessed: 28 February 2022.
207 Adam Scheinman, ‘To prevent nuclear war, borrow from 1973’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 14 March 2018, https://thebulletin.org/2018/03/to-prevent-nuclear-war-borrow-from-1973/ accessed: 26 November 2021.