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The following year the two superpowers agreed to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, or ABM, which limited the number of anti-ICBM defenses each nation would develop. This thaw grew into a wider policy, known as Detente between East and West. One of the largest and most symbolic acts was the agreement between many capitalist and Communist nations to sign the Helsinki Accords in 1975 to further improve relations. A follow-up SALT II Treaty was signed by Brezhnev and Carter in 1979. <ref>Hanhimaki, Jussi, ''The Rise and Fall of Detente.'' Washington: Potomac Books, 2013. Page 83.</ref>
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====Opening Relations with China====
[[File:Mao_Nixon.jpeg|thumbnail|300px|right|Nixon's famous visit to Beijing in February 1972.]]
====Conclusion====
The better relations between the United States with China and the Soviet Union was not a permanent development. As the United States and her allies fell into a deep "malaise" in the late 1970s, the Soviets attempted to take advantage of the situation. The Soviets expanded their influence in the Middle East and invaded Afghanistan to prop up a puppet government in 1979. Brezhnev also kept Eastern Europe repressed with a heavy hand through the remainder of his dictatorship. It was in this backdrop that former California Governor Ronald Reagan ran and won for President in 1980, promising to end the Detente.
====References====
