The Nuclear Arms Race

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probably began in August of 1949, when Russia
detonated its own nuclear weapon, thus ending the U.S. monopoly. In
response, president Truman ordered the development of the hydrogen bomb in
January of 1950. However, the Soviet Union made the first H-bomb in August
of 1953. Then, the race escalated when the Inter-Continental Ballistic
Missile was developed in the summer of 1957, again by the Soviets. A
serious crisis arose in 1962, when the Soviets placed ballistic missiles in
Cuba, their new ally. The missiles were withdrawn when the U.S. threatened
nuclear retaliation. In return, President Kennedy's promised not to invade
Cuba. The world had never come closer to a nuclear war.
Negotiations, beginning with the establishment of the International
Atomic Energy Agency in 1957, began between the two countries. As the
possibility of war rose, the United States and the Soviet Union saw the
necessity of treaties to prevent disaster. A series of talks called SALT,
or the Strategic ...

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