State Department releases new volume on foreign relations

The Department of State released today Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXIII, SALT II, 1972–1980.This volume is part of a Foreign Relations subseries that documents the most important foreign policy issues of the Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford presidential administrations. Because of the long-term nature of the SALT II negotiations, however, this volume also includes the period of the Jimmy Carter administration, as Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter worked to resolve the complex, evolving, and interrelated issues necessary to reach an agreement. All three presidents sought to go beyond the Interim Agreement signed at the Moscow Summit in May 1972 through the achievement of a formal treaty on strategic arms. The negotiations were a central component of foreign policy for all three administrations, demanding sustained attention at the highest level of government. This volume offers a rare direct comparison of bureaucratic processes and leadership styles as well as the personal and institutional interplay across these administrations.