A Precarious Equilibrium

Carter envisioned his Soviet policy moving along two interdependent tracks that should have formed a “virtuous circle”. He aimed to renew the American ideological challenge through human rights and to persuade the Soviets to ease internal repression to strengthen Congressional support for détente and arms control. In turn, continuing the bipolar dialogue, the administration aimed to promote human rights further in the USSR. Contrary to what he envisioned, Carter was caught between Scylla and Charybdis. The more vigorously the White House pursued human rights in bipolar relations, the more the Soviets lost interest in détente; the more the administration relegated human rights to quiet diplomacy, the more critics within the United States accused the President of abandoning his commitment to human rights. Trapped in this contradiction, Carter lost both the opportunity to renew détente and to build lasting domestic support.