SALT I and the ABM Treaty are signed in Moscow
Nixon and Brezhnev signed two instruments at once: an interim agreement freezing the numbers of strategic missile launchers for five years, and a treaty limiting anti-ballistic missile deployments to a very small number of sites. The pairing is the substance. Capping offensive forces was only acceptable to each side because the other had agreed to remain undefended, and both rested on verification by reconnaissance satellite, which each undertook not to obstruct.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- SALT I — the 1972 Interim Agreement on strategic offensive arms · treaty · not located
- The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty · treaty · not located
- Mutual assured destruction · concept · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Interim Agreement between the United States and the USSR on Certain Measures with Respect to the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms
Supports the date and character of the SALT I offensive-arms freeze, its five-year term, its counting of launchers rather than warheads, and the use of national technical means for verification. V55 verification basis: NOT consulted; no launcher ceiling is quoted in this pack for that reason.
United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics · 1972-05-26 · Partly verified
SALT I Interim Agreement, signed at Moscow, 26 May 1972
Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems
Supports the limitation of ABM deployment areas and the reasoning that mutual vulnerability was being deliberately preserved, together with the treaty's termination on American withdrawal. V55 verification basis: NOT consulted; the site limits, the protocol date and the withdrawal dates are from standing knowledge and were not checked.
United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics · 1972-05-26 · Partly verified
ABM Treaty, signed at Moscow, 26 May 1972; 1974 Protocol; United States withdrawal effective June 2002
Recorded on SALT I — the 1972 Interim Agreement on strategic offensive arms
- SALT I and the ABM Treaty are signed in Moscow
- Reagan announces the Strategic Defense Initiative
- The Reykjavik summit
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Reykjavik summit · 1986-10-11 – 1986-10-12
- Reagan announces the Strategic Defense Initiative · 1983-03-23