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In 1961 the Berlin Wall was built and 1962 the Cuba-Crisis with a sea barrier from President Kennedy ended, the relationship between Washington and Moscow relaxed. In1972 began the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, SALT I, "the first agreements to place limits and restraints on some of their central and most important armaments."
In 1974 the two most powerful nations came to an agreement to stop nuclear tests.
In 1975 in Helsinki thirty fifth States, including the Soviet Union and the US, signed the Document of the Conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe (KSZE), followed by the SALT II treaty to limit strategy weapons in 1979.
In 1988 Moscow and Washington came to an agreement for the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF-treaty). The INF-treaty between the US and the Soviet Union meant to get rid of all ground based, medium-range nuclear missile stationed in Europe.
It was the first agreement that a weapon category was not only limited, but also destroyed. In 1991 a conclusion followed in the category strategy weapons, Strategic Arms Reduction Talks, (START). Later on, reduction talks took place about convenient weapons between the East/West.
Roland Reagan's politics (1981-1989) showed a containment strategy. One part was the plan of Strategic Defence Initiative 1984, SDI. "It is aimed to research, develop and test a new generation of high-technology weapons to be deployed in space and on earth, to defend the US from Soviet nuclear missiles."
But with time the containment politics showed positive results. Ronald Reagon and George Bush (1989-1993) found in Gorbatschov a cooperating partner. The East/West conflict ended. The containment politics from 1945 and 1989/90 can be considered as successful. America had done a good job; they could integrate Germany in West European and Atlantic Structure after the Second World War again. Five decades of conflicts finally had an end. In London in July 1990 the NATO declared to Soviet Union and the Warsaw-Treaty their cooperation. Five months later the conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe passed their document which ended the era of confronting and splitting of Europe. The new cooperation of Soviet Union and America did not only cause a change in European politics, but also freedom in Latin-American (Nicaragua), Africa (Angola) and Asia (Cambodia).
Americans perceived the end of the conflict with the Soviets to show the success of the Manifest Destiny Containment strategy. Parallel to the East/West conflict America could stabilize freedom and democracy in Europe.
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