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The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1966-1968

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was, to quote President Johnson’s national security adviser, Walt Rostow, “a constitutional arrangement for the organization of the noncommunist world.” While its negotiations reopened lines of communication between the superpowers that had been closed since Nuremberg, Moscow mostly played a supporting role. Its cooperation, though necessary, was insufficient for the treaty’s success. The NPT depended as well on an unlikely marriage between America’s Cold War alliances in Western Europe and East Asia and collective security arrangements under the UN in those regions having recently undergone decolonization. Dr. Hunt discussed the nuances of the NPT’s negotiation and its significance for contemporary crises.

Date & Time

Wednesday
Sep. 13, 2017
9:00am – 10:00am ET

Location

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
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Overview

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was, to quote President Johnson’s national security adviser, Walt Rostow, “a constitutional arrangement for the organization of the noncommunist world.” While its negotiations reopened lines of communication between the superpowers that had been closed since Nuremberg, Moscow mostly played a supporting role. Its cooperation, though necessary, was insufficient for the treaty’s success. The NPT depended as well on an unlikely marriage between America’s Cold War alliances in Western Europe and East Asia and collective security arrangements under the UN in those regions having recently undergone decolonization. Dr. Hunt discussed the nuances of the NPT’s negotiation and its significance for contemporary crises. 

Speaker

Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt

Former Title VIII Research Scholar;
Visiting scholar at the University of Southampton; assistant professor of strategy at the U.S. Air War College

Jonathan Hunt is a historian of America and the world, a visiting scholar at the University of Southampton, an assistant professor of strategy at the U.S. Air War College, and the author of The Nuclear Club: How America and the World Policed the Atom from Hiroshima to Vietnam.

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Hosted By

Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier U.S. center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

Nuclear Proliferation International History Project

The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project is a global network of individuals and institutions engaged in the study of international nuclear history through archival documents, oral history interviews, and other empirical sources. At the Wilson Center, it is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

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