Détente is the easing of strained relations through verbal communication. In the context of the Cold War, the lessening of tensions between the East and West, along with domestic reform in the Soviet Union, worked together to achieve the end of communism in Eastern Europe and eventually the Soviet Union altogether. Nixon made détente with the Soviet Union one of his top priorities, resulting in the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and SALT I, the first two landmark arms control treaties of their kind.
