Alistair Horne

Without Kissinger's work in the Middle East, with Sadat especially, I doubt if the Camp David Agreements five years later would have happened. His achievements over detente, the seeds of trust he sowed in a very distrustful and hostile Moscow, helped over a long period.

British Historian

Jeane Kirkpatrick

I believe that detente was having almost the opposite effect of what was intended. What was intended was to sort of end the contest for power and to stop Soviet expansion, especially by military means and the military build-up, the military contest.

American Diplomat

Greg Grandin

Kissinger celebrants inevitably point to two things to justify their admiration: an opening to China - 'rapprochement' - and improved relations with the Soviet Union - detente - which included SALT, a historic arms-limitation treaty.

American Historian

In the years just before... during the Carter years, the Soviets regularly violated, if you will, both the spirit and theletter of arms control agreements, I think, that they had negotiated during the period of detente.

And I think detente had manifestly failed, and that the pursuit of it was encouraging Soviet expansion and rendering the world more dangerous, and especially rendering the Western world in greater peril.

Fidel Castro

Following the missile crisis, detente started to gain ground between the United States and the Soviet Union, so the international political climate improved after that.

Statesman

Stephen Kinzer

No step the United States could take anywhere in the world would bring strategic benefits as great as detente with Iran.

American Author

Robert Dallek

I see a direct line between Kennedy and Richard Nixon and the opening to China and the detente with the Soviet Union.

Golda Meir

I don't know why you use a fancy French word like detente when there's a good English phrase for it - cold war.

Israeli Leader

Detente is often associated with the Cold War era, referring to reduced hostility.

Cold War Term

Detente suggests a temporary phase; tensions may still exist below the surface.

Temporary Phase

Detente implies easing of tensions, not necessarily a shift to friendly relations.

Not Friendship

In music, 'detente' signifies a short pause, an intentional interruption of the rhythm.