Cold War and the Policy of Detente There is no clear and important threat to United States as can be seen directly now, and that had been the major determinant of foreign policy for United States for many years, after the Second World War. This has led to a situation where there are many impressions about the policies that are best suited for America and those originate from different philosophies about the fundamental national interests and values. Issues and problems that were not being considered earlier are now attracting the attention, debate and scrutiny of policy makers since the position has changed since the fall of communism. It is true that United States had to bear the biggest burden for the defeat of Communism, and this is leading to the pursuance of a lot of other priorities that had not been considered then. (Bring Back the Laxalt Doctrine)

At the beginning of this argument it is essential to accept a new logic that there are no threats to United States in the form of further spread of weapons of mass destruction or getting certain classic enemies like People's Republic of China more powerful. The policies of today are being decided through the resolution of minor issues which are felt to have the potential of becoming large issues later, the insistence on continued loyalty of our present allies even at costs to us, and continuous study of all minor issues which seem to have the potential into growing into a big issue later. (Bring Back the Laxalt Doctrine)

Analysis:

These policies had remained constant for more than 40 years and these were the reasons for the continued maintenance of strategic nuclear forces. These forces were to be the primary deterrence for avoiding a war between United States and the Soviet Union. Soviet Union had a major dominance in conventional arms and forces over certain allies of United States close...

This was the reason for United States to move its forces forward, close to the borders of Soviet Union so that the allies could be protected. At that stage also, United States did not have enough confidence in conventional defense systems, and this led to the development of nuclear forces by Great Britain and France, in addition to United States for threatening Soviet Union during the period of Cold War. The requirement of American forces was to be of a suitable size and nature that the Soviets clearly understood, a conflict with United States would end up for Soviet Union with damages that would be unacceptable for that regime. (Nuclear Deterrence, Then and Now)
As time progressed, the Soviets also acquired nuclear weapons and then the requirement changed -- Soviet Union had to be convinced that no possible benefit could come to the Soviet Union from the use of nuclear bombs. This led to the United States strategy of investment in the three offensive arms of strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine launched ballistic missiles. At the same time, there was also investment in warnings systems of a possible attack, as well as command, control and communications for repulsing a surprise attack. This process of development of tactical and strategically superior nuclear weapons went on. The aim was to be able to increase the level of conflict so that Soviet Union felt dominated by United States. (Nuclear Deterrence, Then and Now)

This phase continued till 1972 -73. Both the major superpowers won and lost in different territories. United States had to withdraw from the very expensive war in Vietnam and there was a requirement for the crises that occurred from time to time into nuclear war. This led Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev to pursue detente. This did not mean that the competition ended between the two sides, the process…