The United States and the Soviet Union first reached an agreement on strategic arms limitation in May 1972. That agreement was set to expire in 1977, so both sides pressed for a permanent and more encompassing accord. Soon after President Gerald Ford took office in 1974 he agreed to meet Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in Vladivostok if preliminary meetings could develop the basis for an agreement. Talks between Ford and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in Washington and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's visit to Moscow laid the groundwork for the President's meeting with Brezhnev.

This exhibit consists of a narrative written by President Ford along with a selection of digitized photographs and documents from the Ford Library's holdings.

• Arrival in Vladivostok and Okeanskaya

• Prior Discussions on Arms Limitation

• Negotiating with Brezhnev - Day One

• Breaks Between Sessions

• Negotiating with Brezhnev - Day Two

• Suggestions for Further Reading

• Master List of Digitized Documents