Foreign Affairs

The American Presidents that served during the 1970’s were Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and in part with Jimmy Carter.  The seventies were a transition between the extreme tensions with the USSR as well as Vietnam War during the 60’s and the iron fist pounded on Communism during the 80’s.  In several ways, America and its citizens were still experiencing the setbacks that the Vietnam War posed.  The American people still held harsh feelings toward the government for involving Americans in the war in the first place.  The US government needed to look for ways to regain trust and support from its people, and Vietnam War Vets were facing serious difficulties adjusting back into everyday life.  During this time, the US government put its focus on smaller countries that were being threatened by Communist takeover.  One of these countries was Iran.  American focus on Iran had begun in 1953; however, involvement with the Iranians came to an ultimate in the late 70’s.  The Americans made extreme attempts to put into power a Democratic leader, who was not well received by the Iranian people.  This had brought tensions with the Americans and the Iranians to an all-time high, and forced negative repercussions on the US economy.  As a result of unwanted American involvement, oil owners and distributors halted their shipment into the United States, taking a massive toll on Americans’ ways of life and sent the economy through a plummeting tail spin.  As a way of handling the constant nuclear threat posed by the USSR, President Ford signed the SALT Treaty, or Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, with Soviet leader Brezhnev.  This treaty yielded an agreement that was made between the super powers to halt anymore new technologies and information that could be attributed to the advancement of the nuclear projects in each nation.  This act served as a paramount event that happened during the 1970’s.  Although this treaty had served to smooth some tensions over during the Cold War, President Ronald Reagan made it his number one priority to put an end to the spread of Communism and make America known as an extreme force to be reckoned with, just as it once had been before.  
-Hutten Heinsberg