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Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–15, Part 1, Documents on Eastern Europe, 1973–1976

Editor:
Peter Kraemer
General Editor:
Edward C. Keefer

United States Government Printing Office
Washington
2008

Office of the Historian
Bureau of Public Affairs


Table of Contents


Overview

The documentation in this volume highlights U.S. policy toward Eastern Europe from 1973–1976 in the period of détente. Relations with the communist-dominated states of Eastern Europe warmed during this period, building on the progress made during Nixon's first term, the afterglow of détente with the Soviet Union, and U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. The documents opening this volume affirm that U.S. foreign policy still perceived Eastern Europe's collective status as “captive nations” under Soviet domination but held hopes for improved bilateral relations on a country-by-country basis. The Nixon and Ford administrations' ambitions for improved relations with Hungary and Czechoslovakia remained unrealized, and U.S. contacts with Bulgaria and Albania were extremely limited. Documentation on these countries is contained only in the Eastern Europe Regional chapter. The majority of this volume focuses on those countries with which the United States had major continuing bilateral relations, evident in new or improved economic, cultural, and political-military relations: Romania, Yugoslavia, and Poland. These three countries, the Administration hoped, were most likely to assert their independence from Moscow. Finally, although the United States officially established diplomatic ties to the German Democratic Republic during this period, relations remained limited and evidenced a continuing low level of tension over the status of divided Berlin.

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