Political policies between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1970s One cannot effectively interpret the world political policies of the 1970s without the 'inclusion of the relationship known as relaxation, and the breakdown there of. The failure of détente in the 1970s can be attributed to many different issues and events. In researching these events, the different opinions of the two world superpowers that would establish the failure of détente in history, such as a breakdown in communication and talks between the White House of the United States and the Kremlin of the Soviet Union with the collapse of détente marking the end of the 1970s. - During the 1976 presidential campaign, the tension between the objective of transformation and the importance of coexistence became crucial. Conservatives criticized détente for failing to moderate Soviet involvement in the transformation of the Third World toward communism. Many in the United States witnessed a series of Soviet interventions involving military means; Angola, Ethiopia, Kampuchea, Afghanistan, as a model of Soviet expansion, incompatible with détente. Many actually believed that these expansionist movements were encouraged by détente. Ultimately, both powers hoped that detente would yield more results. It was the inability to meet these expectations that led to its demise. Kissinger suggested that "détente, with all its weaknesses, should be judged not against an ideal but against what would have happened in its absence." Detente did not cause the Soviet weapons buildup, nor could it have stopped it. However, they may have slowed it down or made it more benign” (Garthoff 1994: 1123). Detente could perhaps be seen not as a method of preventing or deterring tensions that could lead to war, but as a means of postponing their effects until the United States is able to deal with it more effectively. In 1976, detente was a controversial term, with both the left and the dissenting right criticizing its development. With the administration of Jimmy Carter, a campaign to restore confidence in government institutions and reform American foreign policy was implemented (Froman 1991: 74). President Carter appointed Zbigniew Brzezinski as National Security Advisor and Cyrus Vance as Secretary of State. Continuing differences between Brzezinski and Vance caused turmoil within the Carter administration and destroyed Carter's efforts to define a set of limits for the principles of détente. Detente began to collapse almost as soon as it began. Watergate undermined President Richard M..