It's hard to say whether or not Detente helped during the Nixon/Ford years or only delayed the Soviet collapse. Still, no one now seems to think Reagan SHOULD have continued the policies of detente which were in place only a few short years before his election.
Still, no one now seems to think Reagan SHOULD have continued the policies of detente which were in place only a few short years before his election.Well, Reagan initiated the Start talks. Not exactly Detente but along the same lines. Reagan wasn't President during the early 70's and Nixon wasn't president during the early 80's. War has to be fought on the battlefield as it exists at the time.
START negotiations began in 1982. The United States sought a treaty that would provide for "deep reductions" in U.S. and Soviet strategic offensive nuclear forces, equal limits on the two sides, and "effective verification." Talks were suspended in 1983, when the Soviets walked out in protest over U.S. intermediate-range missile deployments in Europe. Negotiations resumed in 1985 and Presidents George Bush and Boris Yeltsin concluded them in July 1991. On May 23, 1992, a protocol was signed between the U.S. and the four Soviet successor states that have weapons covered by START -- Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Taken together, these documents outline complex and often costly procedures that the nations must follow to remain in compliance with START I.