Bush Announces Nuclear Arms Reductions

Date September 27, 1991

Evidencing improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, President George H. W. Bush announced plans for the unilateral reduction of U.S. nuclear armaments and level of military readiness.

Locale Washington, D.C.

Key Figures

• George H. W. Bush (1924–2018), president of the United States, 1989-1993
• Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931), general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1985-1991, and president of the Soviet Union, 1990-1991

Summary of Event

After four decades of Cold War suspicion and periodic confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union, an era of significantly improved relations between the two nuclear superpowers developed after 1985. A major foreign and military policy speech by President George H. W. Bush on September 27, 1991, marked the efforts of both nations to reduce their nuclear armaments and lessen the dangers of nuclear confrontation and possible war. What was especially striking about the president’s policy statement was that the reductions he announced were not the result of specific negotiations with the Soviet government, but were taken unilaterally by the United States.

Since atomic weapons first appeared in 1945, the designs, destructive power, and possible uses of nuclear weapons had expanded greatly. By the 1970’s, both superpowers possessed large numbers of these destructive devices. Initial negotiations to limit the rate of growth of certain types of nuclear weapons earlier had resulted in two groundbreaking agreements stemming from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks of 1972 (SALT I) and 1979 (SALT II), and U.S.-Soviet negotiations continued sporadically during the 1980’s, culminating in a 1987 treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missile systems located in Europe.

The greatest danger to both nations, in size and destructive power, involved powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which possessed the necessary range to reach each other’s territory. Negotiations to limit this class of strategic weapons continued between the U.S. and Soviet governments for several years, leading to an agreement in July, 1991. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and President Bush signed the first treaty of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START I) in Moscow as the first step to beginning the numerical reduction of these powerful strategic missiles (the treaty was ratified in early 1992). This atmosphere for greater cooperation, building on prior arms control efforts, provided the background for the president’s dramatic announcement in September.

Other favorable conditions in 1990 and 1991 also signaled an improved relationship between the two Cold War rivals. Soviet military intervention in neighboring Afghanistan had ended in 1989; Communist governments in Central and Eastern Europe had fallen from power in 1989 with minimal violence, the nations of East and West Germany had united in 1990, and growing economic ties between the Soviet Union and the West promised more cooperation. A significant agreement to limit military forces and nonnuclear weapons in Europe was adopted in November, 1990, by the Warsaw Pact (the Soviet Union and its European Communist allies) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of which the United States was a member. The following year, the Warsaw Pact itself ended.

The Soviet Union’s cooperation with the United Nations and the West during the Persian Gulf War against Iraq in early 1991 also showed willingness to work together in common purpose. When the leaders of the world’s most economically powerful nations, known as the Group of Seven (G7), held their annual meeting in London in July, 1991, Gorbachev was invited to attend as an eighth participant. A few days later, Bush flew to Moscow to sign the START agreement. The conditions were thus favorable for additional proposals from each side to continue the trend to reduce the threshold of nuclear danger.

In a televised address to the nation on September 27, 1991, President Bush discussed a broad range of nuclear weapons systems and outlined the changes in military policies the United States would unilaterally adopt. He first described changes in the Cold War environment and the growing cooperation between the superpowers and asserted that the possibility of a Soviet attack on Western Europe was no longer likely. Essentially, Bush declared that the Cold War was over and said that the two nations could work together in the future. This opportunity to improve the relationship now required both sides to undertake additional steps toward increased cooperation and peace.

Building on previous arms control agreements, the president specified steps he intended to adopt for the U.S. military. Some decisions were immediate and unilateral, falling under Bush’s authority as U.S. commander in chief. For example, approximately twenty-one hundred U.S. nuclear artillery shells and short-range nuclear missiles located in Europe, originally designed for tactical battlefield use in case of war with the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, were ordered withdrawn and destroyed. More than eight hundred nuclear weapons were removed from U.S. surface warships and naval aircraft.

Bush also gave orders for the U.S. long-range bomber force to end its twenty-four-hour alert status. This policy, in place since the 1950’s, had required warplanes with nuclear weapons to be kept in continual readiness in case of crisis and possible nuclear war. A category of ICBMs scheduled to be eliminated under the START agreement, 450 Minuteman IIs, would be dismantled immediately rather than during the longer period specified in START. Further development of several new types of nuclear missiles, including the controversial MX missile with ten nuclear warheads, was canceled.

In the speech, Bush further identified several long-term objectives requiring future negotiations with the Soviet government. He proposed joint talks to seek the eventual elimination of all land-based multiwarhead nuclear missiles as well as to improve procedures for the future supervision and dismantling of nuclear weapons of both nations. He recommended consideration of joint efforts to develop antiballistic missile defense systems for each nation.

Significance

President Bush’s dramatic announcement of September 27, 1991, caught the world by surprise because of its sweeping provisions and important implications for the future. Western military analysts interpreted the president’s overture as having several purposes. In addition to the arms cuts and other steps, the United States hoped to support Gorbachev, who faced the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union. If that occurred, it would be even more difficult to negotiate the control and elimination of the former nation’s nuclear armaments.

Prior to making his public speech, the president had privately communicated its contents to major world leaders, including Gorbachev. The Soviet response was considered to be the most significant. On September 28, Gorbachev gave cautious support to the U.S. proposals and reiterated the Soviet interest in reducing nuclear weapons. He noted his regret that the U.S. president had not gone further, however, such as suspending U.S. underground nuclear testing. The Soviet leader promised careful consideration of the U.S. declaration, and the Moscow government indicated that it would present its own proposals.

On October 5, the Gorbachev government announced a comparable set of reciprocal policies and unilateral cuts in Soviet military forces. Several steps paralleled Bush’s orders, including removal of the Soviet strategic bomber force from ready-alert status, removal and destruction of tactical battlefield nuclear armaments, and a promise to dismantle more than five hundred ICBMs. Several missile projects also were canceled. Additional Soviet proposals even went beyond Bush’s September announcement, including adoption of a one-year moratorium on Soviet nuclear weapons testing.

The two governments, within a two-week period, had announced substantial reductions in nuclear weapons systems and the general level of military preparedness. The extent of the decisions and the rapidity of their implementation signified continued cooperation between the two superpowers. The decisions announced by both leaders in their September 27 and October 5 statements provided the basis for further advances in shrinking the arms race and resolving the potential dangers of nuclear conflict, including the signing of the more ambitious START II agreement in January, 1993, by Bush and Russia’s new president, Boris Yeltsin.

Bibliography

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Beschloss, Michael R., and Strobe Talbott. At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1993.

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