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CHALLENGE
Now
revealed
the
U. S. master
plan
for
the
seventies. And the Soviet counter
effort
to knock
out the
U. S.
as
the world's leading power.
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Color Photogrophy - John Lounoi s,
Block Stor
Block
&
White Photography - Robert Lebeck,
Block Star
T
HE CRIT!CAL
ycar 1972 may weJI
go clown in hisrory as rhe
Year of rhe Summir.
l.n
a
period of less rhan four
monchs, Richard
M.
Nixon scaled rhc
lofry peaks of Peking and Moscow in
pursuir of
his
much-desired "gener–
arion of peacc."
A
New Relarionship
''Mounr Moscow," ir is now clear,
was rhe ultimare objeccive, afrer all.
The Presiden r's earlier, and largely
symbolic, "side rrip" ro rhe People's
Republic of China - Russia's Com–
munisr archrival in rhe world -
scrvcd primarily ro unlarch rhe im–
posing garc of rhe Krcmlin. And rhe
ulrra-caurious Soviet leadership, sus–
picious of a Washington-Peking un–
dersranding, considered Mr. Nixon's
rrip so viral ro irs own nacional inter–
esr rhar ir kcpr rhe door open despire
srepped-up U. S. milirary acrion in
Norrh Vietnam.
Whcn Mr. Nixon rerurncd from
his Moscow rrip wirh a bundle of
rrearies and agrcemenrs, he pro–
claimcd a ··ncw relarionship bcrwcen
rhe rwo mosr powerful narions in rhc
world."
Thc mosr imporranr arca of agree–
menr, of course, covers rhe mutual
limirarion of srraregic weapons. As a
result of che arms rreaties, an apparenr
rough balance has been achieved be–
rween rhe rwo superpowers. Balanc–
ing rhc Soviet Union's numcrical
superioriry in missiles (see box) is a
grearcr numbcr of U. S. warheads
coupled wirh a prescnr American lead
in nuclear wcapons rechnology.
Mr.
, ixon's chief foreign policy cho–
reographer, Henry Kissinger, rold
American newsmen in rhe Presidenr's
Moscow emourage rhar ··no agrec–
menr [on nuclear wcapons} that
brings Jisadvanrage
co
cirher side can
possibly lasr."
Why
the Trip
Was Necessary
Behind rhc Presidenr's intensc
'·working summir." as he called ir,
was a sober rcalizarion. Unless some–
rhing was done quickly and deci–
sively, rhe Unired Srares could fall
almosr irrerrievably behind rhc Soviet
Union in raw military power.
The Soviet Union, unrecogni;.::ed in
full by mosr Americans, had been
adding ro irs oncnsive nuclear arsenal
ar a prodigious rare. The Soviers, ac–
cording ro a recenr counr, had been
consrrucring about 250 land-based in–
rerconrinenral ballisric missiles a year,
along wirh submarine projecri les ar a
(Text continued on page 8)
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