In the West, the early promise of détente soured under this news of communist growth in the Third World. As Americans turned against détente, feeling it was the reason for the relative decline in US power, Presidents Ford and Carter still sought to keep détente viable, feeling that, in their estimation, its benefits still outweighed any costs. Ultimately, however, the same misunderstandings that helped precipitate the Cuban Missile Crisis would lead to another cold spell in an already Cold War. The radical differences in how the United States and the Soviet Union understood the expectations placed upon them and the limits of their foreign policy choices under détente varied greatly. Neither side, as in the Cuban Missile Crisis, fully appreciated the different pressures bearing down on each superpower (internally and externally) and their leaders and, thus, did not always interpret their counterparts’ behaviors accurately. Compare and contrast key assumptions and expectations held by the Americans and Soviets regarding détente and its effects on global affairs.

Detente is the term used to describe relations between the East and the West from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. One key reason for detente was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The world had come perilously close to nuclear war, and both the Soviet Union and the United States sought to reduce tensions.
Detente is best understood as a phase in the Cold War. It changed the nature of the struggle between East and West, but it did not end it.
Moscow had two main objectives. First, it wanted to reduce military expenditures and improve the standard of living of its population. Second, it wanted the West to finally recognize its hegemony in Eastern Europe.
Richard Nixon was the American president who ushered in the era of detente. Facing a debacle in Vietnam, the Nixon administration sought a new foreign policy that featured an "era of negotiation" instead of war and confrontation.
A number of important agreements came out of detente. There were several treaties between Moscow and Washington to limit nuclear weapons. Also, the Helsinki Accords of 1975 dealt with a number of outstanding European issues.
By the early 1980s, the era of detente was over. The Soviets' invasion of Afghanistan, the crackdown on Solidarity in Poland, and the election of Ronald Reagan ended detente.