The Beginning of the End and Summary
Overview
Statewide Dual Credit Modern World History: Unit 15, Lesson 15
A discussion of the end of the Cold War, focusing on the United States' relations with China and the Soviet Union, touching on the impact of US presidents and their policies on the Cold War.
The End of the Cold War
For the rest of the 1970s, the United States remained preoccupied with domestic issues such as the decline of the steel belt, drastic increases in oil prices, stagflation, the Iranian hostage crisis, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The one diplomatic breakthrough during this period was the improvement of diplomatic relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Following the success of Communist forces in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the United States refused to recognize Mao Zedong’s regime. Chinese intervention in the Korean War and support for Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Cong forces in the Vietnam War likewise hobbled efforts at dialogue. In 1969, Sino-Soviet relations began to deteriorate. This was caused, in part, by a border dispute which, in 1969, led to Soviet and Chinese troops engaging in a brief shooting war over the ownership of Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River near Manchuria.
In the meantime, the Nixon administration’s desire for Chinese support for aiding America’s exit from Vietnam provided an opportunity for a thaw in Sino-U.S. relations. After several meetings between Chinese officials and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon made a highly advertised goodwill trip to Beijing in 1972, meeting with Chinese Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976). During the trip, the parties discussed the possibility of diplomatic recognition and closer economic and cultural ties between China and the United States.
When Mao died four years later, moderate reformer Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) came to power. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) and Deng established diplomatic relations. To reassure America’s Taiwanese allies, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which required the U.S. to defend Taiwan in case of invasion.
The election of conservative Republican Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) in 1980 brought about a resurgence in Cold War tensions. Dismissing the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” Reagan drastically increased military spending, provided additional military and economic aid to allies in the third world, and began a massive military build-up of both conventional and nuclear forces.
SUMMARY
The Cold War was a unique kind of conflict. Deeply ideological, the Cold War pitted supporters of democratic government, capitalism and individualism against proponents of one-party political systems, socialist economic planning and the collective good. On another level, the war represented a struggle between the world’s two most powerful nations. Although the Cold War did explode into real conflict— Korea and Vietnam for instance – it was largely a war carried out in the shadows, involving boycotts, propaganda and national reputations.