Introduction

U.S. relations with the Soviet Union since the end of World War II have, to put it mildly, never been free of the most energetic debates about the motives, prowess, and future intentions of the United States’ most powerful adversary. Not surprisingly, Washington’s policies toward Moscow have been characterized by marked shifts in emphasis. The Truman Doctrine constituted the seminal event in the development of a strategy of containment during the Cold War, after which there emerged successive American attempts at ‘bridge building,’ ‘detente,’ and in the 1980s re-armament. The most recent phase of the U.S.-Soviet relationship has witnessed the outlines of a second detente in the closing years of the Reagan presidency.