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Brinkmanship
A foreign policy strategy in which the United States and the Soviet Union would escalate dangerous disputes to the edge of all-out war in order to force the other side to back down
Détente
Détente was a period during the Cold War in the 1970s when the USA and USSR sought to reduce tensions and improve relations through diplomacy, arms control, and trade agreements.
It included initiatives such as the SALT treaties, increased cultural exchanges, and efforts to avoid direct military confrontation between the superpowers.
Flexible Response
The Flexible Response policy, introduced by President John F. Kennedy, aimed to give the United States a range of military options, from conventional forces to nuclear weapons, to respond to communist threats.
It was designed to avoid automatic nuclear escalation, allowing the US to tailor its response to the severity of a conflict while maintaining deterrence.
Mutually Assured Destruction
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was a Cold War doctrine in which both the USA and USSR maintained large nuclear arsenals capable of completely destroying each other if either launched an attack.
The threat of total annihilation acted as a deterrent, preventing either side from initiating a nuclear war.