extreme increase to the already rapid Arms Race that played a large role throughout the Cold War. During the 80's the SALT II and I was signed by the US and the SU to slow the Arms Race. Even so, technology would play en even bigger part of the well being of economies in the decades to come. The pinnacle of the Cold War erupted in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crises. In 1961 Castro officially announced that his regime was Marxist/Leninist and began to align Cuba with its ideological partner, the SU. One year later, the US blocked Soviet ships armed with nuclear missiles destined for Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis is considered the closest to war reached by the two nations. The SU yielded to the US demands and sent their ships with nuclear missiles back to the SU. Although the situation was diffused for the moment, Castro would continue to antagonize the US throughout the following decades. During the sixties and seventies, following the Domino Theory, the US entered the Vietnam War. The US began sending military advisors to help the South Vietnamese against the Northern Communist Vietcong. The implementation of military advisors quickly turned into thousands of troops. The US eventually withdrew all US forces from Vietnam and the Vietcong won the region. The seventies saw the end to the Vietnam War as well as a calming in the tensions between the US and SU. The US President Carter and his administration brought forth to the forefront of US foreign policy issues such as Human Rights and the Environment. These issues hadn't previously been perceived as important, but would play an even greater in politics in the years to follow. The eighties had their own conflicts. The US President Reagan put the Carter issues on the back burner with invasions in Grenada and intervention in Nicaragua. Reagan was more focused on dealing with the SU and an end to the Arms Race. The SU and US signed SALT I and II as well as the Non-Proliferation Treaty (CTBT). Th...
