ed the arms race but not reduced weapons arsenals. Limits were set on future development with the goal of parity. Soviet leader Brezhnev made it clear that the Soviets wanted a quick SALT agreement based on Vladivostok, with the Cruise missile included and the Backfire excluded. President Carter in turn suggested that the SALT II could be concluded without Cruise or Backfire but that it might be possible to move toward SALT III with deep reductions in existing forces. The Soviet leaders were uneasy about President Carters proposal to conclude SALT II, and were also concerned about sharp reductions in their existing weapons. The Soviet Union later accepted constraints on both Soviet Backfire and the American Cruise missile as part of the SALT II agreement. Basic agreement between the two nations on SALT II negotiations were achieved in April 1979, but an official SALT II treaty was never ratified. Final differences rounded out at the Carter-Brezhnev summit meeting in June of 1979 (134, 135). The Panama Canal treaties, the normalizing relations with China, and the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union were among Jimmy Carters important foreign policy accomplishments during his presidency. The two broad foreign policy perspectives Jimmy Carter brought to his presidency was a determination to attack and resolve a number of difficult and outstanding problems. Ratification of the Panama Canal treaties was an important step in that direction. It signaled Jimmy Carters willingness to take on issues that Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford had considered too tricky (Dumbrell 212). Some saw losing the canal as a major loss to the United States because estimated construction costs were around $387 million and the United States had invested about $3 billion in the enterprise since 1903. The majority of the United States citizens had overlooked the money spent on the canal and saw it as a great opportunity to improve relations with Panama. The relat...
