Nixon's Back Channel to Moscow
Confidential Diplomacy and Détente
Richard A. Moss
- An
- in-depth
- study
- of
- the
- secret
- communications
- that
- led
- to
- unprecedented
- thaw
- between
- Cold
- War
- superpowers—“quite
- gripping
- [and]
- wonderfully
- revealing”
- (Jeremi
- Suri,
- author
- of
- Liberty’s
- Surest
- Guardian).The
- détente
- between
- the
- United
- States
- and
- the
- Soviet
- Union
- was
- among
- the
- Nixon
- administration’s
- most
- significant
- foreign
- policy
- successes.
- The
- diplomatic
- back
- channel
- that
- national
- security
- advisor
- Henry
- Kissinger
- established
- with
- Soviet
- ambassador
- Anatoly
- Dobrynin
- became
- the
- most
- important
- method
- of
- achieving
- this
- thaw
- in
- the
- Cold
- War.
- While
- Kissinger
- preferred
- back
- channels
- for
- streamlining
- communications
- and
- preventing
- leaks,
- these
- methods
- were
- widely
- criticized
- by
- State
- Department
- officials
- left
- out
- of
- the
- loop
- and
- by
- an
- American
- public
- weary
- of
- executive
- secrecy.Richard
- A.
- Moss’s
- penetrating
- study
- documents
- and
- analyzes
- US-Soviet
- back
- channels
- from
- Nixon’s
- inauguration
- through
- the
- May
- 1972
- Moscow
- Summit.
- He
- traces
- the
- evolution
- of
- confidential
- diplomacy
- and
- examines
- major
- flashpoints,
- including
- the
- 1970
- crisis
- over
- Cienfuegos,
- Cuba,
- the
- Strategic
- Arms
- Limitations
- Talks
- (SALT),
- US
- dealings
- with
- China,
- deescalating
- tensions
- in
- Berlin,
- and
- the
- Vietnam
- War.
- Moss
- argues
- that
- while
- the
- back
- channels
- improved
- US-Soviet
- relations
- in
- the
- short
- term,
- the
- Nixon-Kissinger
- methods
- provided
- a
- poor
- foundation
- for
- lasting
- policy.Employing
- newly
- declassified
- documents,
- the
- Nixon
- tapes,
- and
- the
- complete
- record
- of
- the
- Kissinger-Dobrynin
- channel,
- Moss
- reveals
- the
- behind-the-scenes
- deliberations
- of
- Nixon,
- his
- advisers,
- and
- their
- Soviet
- counterparts.
- This
- is
- the
- first
- scholarly
- study
- to
- comprehensively
- assess
- the
- central
- role
- of
- confidential
- diplomacy
- in
- shaping
- America’s
- foreign
- policy
- during
- this
- critical era.
