Index of definitions used:
 ABM, Fallout, Ground zero, IADA, ICBM, IRBM, MAD, Megaton, MIRV, MRV, NATO, SLBM, Sputnik, Fusion, Radiation, SALT, Baruch Plan, Hydrogen Bomb, Neutron Bomb, Fission

SALT I & SALT II
    Strategic Arms Limitations Talks, in 1969, began a new set of negotiations. The aim of these negotiations was to set limits on strategic weapons. The two sides also talked about limits on antiballistic missile systems. They did not discuss tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical weapons have only a short range. They are designed to be used on the battlefield.
   SALT I lasted 3 years. In 1972, the Soviet Union and the United States announced that they had reached an agreement. Both sides would limit ABM development. Each country would be permitted to place 100 ABMs around its capital and 100 around one other city or military base. But the two ABM sites would have to be in separate parts of the country - far enough apart so that they could not become the start of an ABM network.
    Neither side really wanted an ABM system. Both feared ABM networks might be destabilizing - might upset deterrence.
    The United States and the Soviet  Union agreed to ABM limits. Also, they agreed to limit the number of ICBMS and SLBMs each side could own. However, they set those limits high - much higher than anything either side already had in 1972.
    The SALT I agreement did nothing to reduce nuclear arsenals. Rather , it allowed those arsenals to grow. SALT was really to continue the arms race, with some new rules. It was not an agreement to try to stop the race. The Senate approved SALT by a vote 88 to 2.
    SALT II started right after SALT I negotiations ended. These negotiations lasted 7 years until 1979. Leaders of the two nations had agreed to set further limits on some ICBM systems, to find better ways to make sure both countries were complying with SALT I, and to exchange certain information about the results of nuclear research.  In 1979, Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed SALT II. Carter sent the treaty to the Senate.
    Before the Senate could ratify SALT II, however, things had begun to change again on the international scene. Throughout the 1970s and 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union had moved away from the tensions of the cold war. The two sides had talked, negotiated, reached agreement. It was a period of cooperation. But as the 1980s began, the spirit of cooperation faded.
    In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded the nation of Afghanistan.  The Cold War fire grew large again.
   The era of  SALT negotiations had come to an end. The issue changed from controlling the nuclear arms race, to escalating its buildup.