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'''Détente''' is a [[French]] political term meaning "relaxing" or "easing" commonly applied to a hoped-for

'''Détente''' is a French-language political term meaning "relaxing" or "easing" of previously hostile relations. It most recently applied to the policy of ending the [[Cold War]] between the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]], and the between the U.S. and [[China]], as promoted 1969-79 by presidents [[Richard Nixon]], [[Germls Ford]] and [[Jimmy Carter]]. The Russians rejected the détente by their escalation of tensions in the Third World, and especially their [[Afghanistan War|invasion of prevously neutral Afghanistan in 1979]]. Nixon, however, achieved a détente with China in 1972 that continues today.  The key advisor and proponent of détente was [[Henry Kissinger]].

easing of the [[Cold War]] tension between the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]].

The first detente or "thawing" led to the [[Afghanistan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]]. <ref>The period between the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader in 1985 was characterized by a marked "freeze" in relations between the superpowers after the "thaw" of the Détente period of the 1970s. [http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cold_War#Thaw_and_D.C3.A9tente.2C_1962-1979] </ref>

* [[Henry Kissinger]]

* [[Richard Nixon]]

Many naive analysts, as well as ideologically driven partisans, advocated detente as an end in itself, as if cordial relations could replace justice or victory. The [[Cold War]] was won when Reagan outspent the Soviet military and Gorbachev support authentic democratization.

* Garthoff, Raymond L. ''Detente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan'' (1994), by a supporter of detente. [http://www.amazon.com/Detente-Confrontation-American-Soviet-Relations-Reagan/dp/081573042X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249269543&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]

* Suri, Jeremi. ''Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Detente'' (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/Power-Protest-Global-Revolution-Detente/dp/0674017633/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249269446&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]

==References==

==References==