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At the beginning of June 1961, the tensions of the Cold War were
supposed to abate as both sides sought a resolution. The two most
important men in the world, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev,
met for a summit in Vienna. Yet the high hopes were disappointed.
Within months the Cold War had become very hot: Khrushchev built
the Berlin Wall and a year later he sent missiles to Cuba to
threaten the United States directly. Despite the fact that the
Vienna Summit yielded barely any tangible results, it did lead to
some very important developments. The superpowers came to see for
the first time that there was only one way to escape from the
atomic hell of their respective arsenals: dialogue. The "peace
through fear" and the "hotline" between Washington and Moscow
prevented an atomic confrontation. Austria successfully
demonstrated its new role as neutral state and host when Vienna
became a meeting place in the Cold War. In The Vienna Summit and
Its Importance in International History international experts use
new Russian and Western sources to analyze what really happened
during this critical time and why the parties had a close shave
with catastrophe.
Richard Williamson's First Steps toward Detente provides a history
of negotiations conducted from 1958-1963 between the United States,
its Western allies in Europe, and the Soviet Union, in order to
resolve the Berlin crisis. These negotiations established ongoing
patterns of backchannel, ambassadorial, foreign minister and heads
of state discussions. From Khrushchev's visit to the United States
in 1959 and the difficult Paris 1960 and Vienna 1961 summits to the
construction of the Berlin Wall, disarmament remained a parallel
concern dependent on Berlin's resolution. Throughout most of 1962,
the United States and Soviets made rigorous attempts to break a
stalemate at Checkpoint Charlie, though neither side was truly
ready to forfeit. Ultimately, the renewal of Berlin harassments and
the Cuban missile crisis put an end to these efforts, but the
closer relations that had developed through Berlin talks helped to
enable the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. The Berlin Crisis
signaled a transition away from multilateral East-West relations to
a bilateral U.S.-Soviet relationship, remaining oriented to
military positions in Germany. In this book, Williamson explores
the significance of these events and shows how the negotiations
held between 1958 and 1963 provided the templates for detente.
At the beginning of June 1961, the tensions of the Cold War were
supposed to abate as both sides sought a resolution. The two most
important men in the world, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev,
met for a summit in Vienna. Yet the high hopes were disappointed.
Within months the Cold War had become very hot: Khrushchev built
the Berlin Wall and a year later he sent missiles to Cuba to
threaten the United States directly. Despite the fact that the
Vienna Summit yielded barely any tangible results, it did lead to
some very important developments. The superpowers came to see for
the first time that there was only one way to escape from the
atomic hell of their respective arsenals: dialogue. The "peace
through fear" and the "hotline" between Washington and Moscow
prevented an atomic confrontation. Austria successfully
demonstrated its new role as neutral state and host when Vienna
became a meeting place in the Cold War. In The Vienna Summit and
Its Importance in International History international experts use
new Russian and Western sources to analyze what really happened
during this critical time and why the parties had a close shave
with catastrophe.
Richard Williamson's First Steps toward Detente provides a history
of negotiations conducted from 1958-1963 between the United States,
its Western allies in Europe, and the Soviet Union, in order to
resolve the Berlin crisis. These negotiations established ongoing
patterns of backchannel, ambassadorial, foreign minister and heads
of state discussions. From Khrushchev's visit to the United States
in 1959 and the difficult Paris 1960 and Vienna 1961 summits to the
construction of the Berlin Wall, disarmament remained a parallel
concern dependent on Berlin's resolution. Throughout most of 1962,
the United States and Soviets made rigorous attempts to break a
stalemate at Checkpoint Charlie, though neither side was truly
ready to forfeit. Ultimately, the renewal of Berlin harassments and
the Cuban missile crisis put an end to these efforts, but the
closer relations that had developed through Berlin talks helped to
enable the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. The Berlin Crisis
signaled a transition away from multilateral East-West relations to
a bilateral U.S.-Soviet relationship, remaining oriented to
military positions in Germany. In this book, Williamson explores
the significance of these events and shows how the negotiations
held between 1958 and 1963 provided the templates for detente.
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