Abstract
This paper compares, contrasts and critiques U.S. foreign policy toward the U.S.S.R. (and today Russia) under U.S. presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush. The paper studies each man's philosophies about foreign policy in general. Next, the paper looks to how the president shaped and implemented his policies in to achieve specific goals within the U.S.-U.S.S.R. relationship. The paper also more generally explores each president's ideals and agendas for the U.S., and attempts to understand how his foreign policy toward Russia played into the achievement of those ideals.

From the Paper
"Each president faced different conditions in the country and the world when they took office. Nixon took over the Vietnam War from Johnson, and this colored how he dealt with superpower the USSR during his administration. Since the Communists were funding the North Vietnamese, one of Nixon's policies was to cut off relations with the USSR until they withheld weapons from North Vietnam. Nixon and his National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, dubbed this policy "linkage." Author Ambrose notes, "The United States would withhold favors from the Russians until they behaved in Southeast Asia by cutting off the arms flow to Hanoi. Peace would follow" (Ambrose 313). Of course, that was not the case, and most of Nixon's policies revolved around ending the war in Indochina while developing all-encompassing agreements with the USSR to help ensure lasting peace around the world. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), meant to limit weapons on both sides, were some of the most important foreign policy decisions Nixon made regarding the USSR during his administration. In addition, during the Nixon administration Congress passed the War Powers Act, which severely limited the president's power in foreign aggression. All of these occurrences were important in foreign policy, especially with the Soviets."

Tags: detante, arms, control, mutually, assured, destruction, cold, war, former, soviet, union