How Did Nixon Improve Their Relationship With The Soviet Union

Their were various points throughout the Nixon and Carter administrations where US both continued the Cold War diplomacy and clashed with communist nations. Their were also times were the US broke social boundaries and departed from the Cold War norms by attempting to restore a good relationship with the Soviet Union.
 During the Nixon administration the Cold War diplomacy continued through the Vietnam war. During the earlier years as president he continued to fight the Vietnam war, which was a fight between the US backed South Vietnamese and the Chinese and Soviet backed North Vietnamese. Through the war many issues between communism and democracy arose, and the former HUAC member, Richard Nixon, was definitely not going to put them aside. Nixon continued to annoy different communist power, for example, “...Nixon irritated Mao by publicly justifying his costly ABM program as a defense against ‘the Chinese threat’...”(Fink, 157). Through the different actions Nixon took, he continued to spite communist powers when he could and therefore upheld Cold War tensions.
During the Nixon administration the United States made an effort to improve their relationship with the Soviet Union.
Through Nixon and Brezhnev the US and Soviet Union were able to step into the detente, which was a period where Cold War tensions were relieved between the two nations. Both nations wanted nuclear arms restrictions and to reduce the nuclear threat, because they both had enough weapons to mutually destroy each other. On November 17, 1969, “...the United States and Soviet Union finally launched the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) talks...” (Fink, 151). Through this the Nixon administration continued to relieve tensions between the Soviet Union the United States therefore departing from the Cold War
diplomacy. Through the Carter administration Cold War tensions were visibly stirring. President Carter kept, “...seized the opportunity to keep human rights at the center of the international agenda...” (Fink 178). At the Belgrade meeting of the CSCE the United States heavily criticized “communists’ human rights violations” as the relationship between the Soviets and the US stated to tighten the Soviets imprisoned a new wave of leading Soviet dissidents. As the United States began to become more frustrated with the Soviet Union, they began to put restrictions on exports to the Soviet Union and with that the relationship between the two began to crumble. To make matters worst Brezhnev response to the matter was a criticism with the US actions in Chile and South Korea regarding the peoples rights and basic human rights. By the end of the Carter administration the friendship that the Nixon administration had formed with the Soviet Union had reversed and Cold War tensions were reenacted. While the Carter administration did have some clashes with the Soviets it also renewed the SALT treaty when Carter signed SALT ii. SALT ii took a very long time to be signed after the tensions increased and the United States, “ ...condemned the Kremlin’s human rights abuses...”(Fink, 187). The US signing had been stalled due to the Soviets actively trying to spread communism in Africa as well. Although these struggles made it difficult for the US to restore the Soviet and United States friendship the fact that the US kept restoring it as a priority shows a departure from the Cold War diplomacy on behalf of the Carter administration. The Nixon and Carter administration restored relations with the Soviet Union, yet at the same time also ran into some situations which continued the Cold War diplomacy between the two nations.