May 26, 1972: The SALT I Treaty Is Signed

May 26, 1972: The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Agreement is signed in Moscow. It becomes known as the SALT I Treaty.

Negotiations began on November 17, 1969, mostly in Helsinki, Finland, a location agreed upon by the Soviet Union as favorable and the United States as acceptable. After a long deadlock, the first results of SALT I came in May 1971, when an agreement was reached over Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) systems.

Further discussion brought the negotiations to an end in Moscow in 1972, when Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the interim agreement that became the SALT I Treaty.

The two sides also agreed to a number of basic principles regarding appropriate conduct. Each recognized the sovereignty of the other; agreed to the principle of noninterference; and sought to promote economic, scientific, and cultural ties of mutual benefit and enrichment.

Nixon had been engaging in "triangulation," playing the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, the world's 2 Communist superpowers, against each other. Having visited China in February, Nixon showed the Soviets that it would be better for them if they came to an agreement. They did. Thus, it could be argued that Nixon did more to end the Cold War in victory for the West in 3 months than Ronald Reagan did in 40 years.

Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter would sign SALT II in 1979. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush and the last Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, signed a superseding agreement, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I. The Russian Federation honored that treaty until it expired on December 5, 2009. In 2010, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed "New START," which remains in effect.

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May 26, 1972 was a Friday, the start of a Memorial Day Weekend. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 8-2 at Yankee Stadium. Tom Timmerman outpitched Mike Kekich. Al Kaline went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Rick Wise outpitched Tom Seaver. Joe Torre and Ted Simmons hit home runs. Willie Mays, recently traded to the Mets, did not play.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski did not play.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Mike Cuellar pitched a 4-hit shutout. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-4 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Ron Reed outpitched Juan Marichal. Hank Aaron hit his 646th career home run. On June 10, he hit his 649th, passing Mays for 2nd place on the all-time list. On April 8, 1974, he hit his 715th, passing Babe Ruth for 1st.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 4-for-5 with an RBI. Willie Stargell did not play. Steve Carlton fell to 5-5 on the season. He went 22-5 the rest of the way.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 4-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Gary Nolan pitched a 5-hit shutout. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers, 7-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Bert Blyleven pitched a 5-hit shutout. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4. Rod Carew went 2-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBIs.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Frank Robinson, in his only season with the Dodgers, went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Nolan Ryan did not get out of the 6th inning, allowed 5 hits, walked 9, and struck out only 2 -- but was the winning pitcher.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk.