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1946 -- June 14
BARUCH PLAN

Bernard M. Baruch, U.S. representative to the UN Atomic Energy Commission, submits proposals for the international control of atomic energy. The "Baruch Plan" calls for "the creation of an International Atomic Energy Development Authority, to which should be entrusted all phases of the development and use of atomic energy, starting with the raw material." The plan recommends that the authority have direct control of all potentially dangerous atomic activities and license all other atomic activities.

The authority would further be empowered to send officials into states to conduct comprehensive inspections for violations of the treaty. Decisions of the authority would not be subject to veto in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The Baruch Plan emphasizes the fundamental U.S. position that international control of atomic energy should precede the prohibition of national atomic forces.

1953 -- April 16
"CHANCE FOR PEACE"

In his "Chance for Peace" speech, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposes that nations limit the portion of total production of strategic materials devoted to military purposes. National military and security forces would be restricted in size either by a numerical limitation or by an agreed national ratio between states. The president suggests that the resulting savings be applied to a fund for world aid and reconstruction.

1953 -- December 8
"ATOMS FOR PEACE"

Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), President Eisenhower presents his "Atoms for Peace" plan. The plan, building on his "Chance for Peace" speech, calls for the creation of an international atomic energy agency that would receive contributions from nations holding stocks of nuclear materials and utilize such contributions for peaceful purposes.

1954 -- August 30
ATOMIC ENERGY ACT

President Eisenhower signs the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which authorizes the exchange of information for the peaceful use of atomic energy with other countries and supports the development of commercial nuclear power.

1955 -- July 21
"OPEN SKIES"

Meeting with the heads of France, Britain, and the Soviet Union, President Eisenhower presents his "Open Skies" plan, which is designed to protect nations against military buildup and surprise attack. He proposes that the Soviet Union and the United States agree immediately to exchange blueprints of their military establishments and furnish each other with facilities for aerial reconnaissance in order to prevent surprise attack and begin a comprehensive and effective system of inspections and disarmament (see section 10, May 12, 1989).

1957 -- January 14
U.S. COMPREHENSIVE FORCE LIMITATIONS PROPOSAL

Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), presents a comprehensive proposal for nuclear and conventional arms reductions. Among its chief provisions:

Future nuclear production would be restricted to peaceful purposes under adequate inspection.
Action would be taken at a later stage to reduce existing stockpiles and to convert them to peaceful purposes.
Once future production is effectively controlled, nuclear tests would be limited and eventually eliminated.
First-stage reductions in conventional arms would limit the military forces of the United States and the Soviet Union to 2.5 million persons and of Britain and France to 750,000.
An effective inspection system, including aerial reconnaissance and ground control, would be established.
Space-missile tests would be inspected.
An international armaments agency would be created.

1957 -- August 29
WESTERN DISARMAMENT PLAN

Following consultation among the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and other nations, the West presents a working paper entitled "Proposals for Partial Measures of Disarmament" to the United Nations, intended as "a practical, workable plan for a start on world disarmament." The plan would stop all nuclear weapons testing, halt production of nuclear weapons materials, start a reduction in nuclear weapons stockpiles, reduce the danger of surprise attack through warning systems, and begin reductions in armed forces and armaments.

1958 -- January 12
U.S. Proposal for PEACEFUL USES OF SPACE

In response to a letter from Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin that proposes a cessation of nuclear tests, President Eisenhower proposes an agreement to use outer space for peaceful purposes and to cease nuclear weapons production.

1959 -- May 14
EUROPEAN PEACE PLAN

At the Geneva Foreign Ministers Conference, the United States, France, and Britain present a peace plan to the Soviet Union containing proposals on German reunification, European security, and a final peace settlement. This plan, coordinating the timing of conventional force reductions with steps in the reunification of Germany, envisages a gradual and logical development through stages of "security" and "reunification" into a final and conclusive stage where "a final Peace Settlement" would be signed "with a Government representing all Germany."

The three Western powers and the Soviet Union would restrict or reduce their armed forces to agreed limits, such as 2.5 million each for the United States and the Soviet Union. In the next stage, they would limit their armed forces further, to 2.1 million each for the United States and the Soviet Union, for example, with negotiations aimed at still further reductions.

1959 -- December 1
ANTARCTIC TREATY

The United States, the Soviet Union, and 10 other countries sign a treaty to internationalize and demilitarize the Antarctic continent.

1960 -- June 27
ARMS REDUCTION PROPOSAL

After a long series of arms reductions proposals and counterproposals by the West and the Soviet Union, the United States introduces a new three-stage plan. The first stage calls for:

Prior notification of missile launchings.
Inspection of mutually agreed air bases and launching sites.
A nuclear materials production cutoff.
Initial conventional force reductions.

Second-stage measures would include further reduction of nuclear stockpiles and conventional forces. In the third stage, national forces would be reduced to levels required for internal order and contingents made available for an international peace force. All armaments not required for these forces would be destroyed or converted to peaceful uses.

1960 -- August 16
U.S. Plan For CONTROL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS

U.S. Ambassador Lodge tells the UN Disarmament Commission that the United States is ready, on a reciprocal basis, to transfer 30,000 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium to peaceful uses if the Soviet Union agrees to a cutoff in the production of fissionable materials for military purposes. The United States is also prepared to "shut down, one by one, under international inspection, our major plants producing enriched uranium and plutonium, if the Soviet Union will shut down equivalent facilities."

1960 -- September 22
U.S. PROPOSAL FOR PEACEFUL USES OF SPACE

In an address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Eisenhower proposes a series of steps for the peaceful uses of space:

Celestial bodies should not be subject to national appropriation by any claims of sovereignty.
There should be no warlike activities on celestial bodies.
Subject to appropriate verification, no nation should "put into orbit or station in outer space weapons of mass destruction."
There should be a UN program of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

1961 -- September 20
DISARMAMENT GUIDELINES

Following intermittent talks, the United States and the Soviet Union agree on a joint statement of principles to guide negotiations for general and complete disarmament. The statement recognizes the need for international peacekeeping machinery and international control, and the possibility of taking partial measures before agreement is reached on the entire disarmament program.

1961 -- September 25
U.S. GENERAL DISARMAMENT PLAN

Speaking to the UN, U.S. President John F. Kennedy presents a plan for general and complete disarmament, calling for:

Immediate signing of a test ban treaty, independent of other disarmament negotiations.
Ending production of nuclear weapons and preventing their transfer to non- nuclear powers.
Preventing transfer of control of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear powers.
Barring nuclear weapons from outer space.
Gradually destroying existing nuclear weapons and transferring the nuclear materials to peaceful uses.
Halting the testing and production of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles (SNDVs) and gradually destroying existing ones.
Earmarking national forces for use by the UN to perform peacekeeping duties, and improving the operation of UN peacekeeping machinery.

1962 -- April 18
THREE-STAGE DISARMAMENT PROPOSAL

Building on its earlier proposals, the United States introduces its three-stage disarmament plan into multilateral disarmament negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland. The first stage provides for:

A three-step, 30 percent reduction of nuclear delivery vehicles and other major armaments.
Restrictions on arms production.
Reduction of U.S. and Soviet forces to 2.1 million.
Nuclear production cutoff and transfer of fissionable material to peaceful uses.
Agreement not to transfer nuclear weapons to non-nuclear-weapon states (NNWS).
A test ban agreement.
Advance notification of missile launchings.
Reports on military spending.
Measures to reduce the risk of war.
Establishment of an international disarmament organization.
Initial peacekeeping arrangements.
Study of measures to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons.

The second stage calls for a 50 percent cut in remaining nuclear delivery vehicles and armaments, as well as a similar cut in U.S. and Soviet forces from first-stage levels, a reduction of nuclear stocks, and the dismantling or conversion of some military bases.

The third stage provides for reduction of arms and forces to levels required for internal order, elimination of nuclear weapons from national arsenals, elimination of remaining bases (except those needed for retained forces), monitoring of military research, and strengthening of the UN peace force.

1964 -- January 21
U.S. NUCLEAR FREEZE PROPOSAL

At disarmament talks in Geneva, the United States proposes an agreement that would:

Freeze all nuclear delivery vehicles with effective verification.
Halt nuclear production facilities on a plant-by-plant basis under international verification.
Establish observation posts to help prevent surprise attack, accident, or miscalculation.
Prohibit the transfer of nuclear weapons to states not now possessing them.
Place all transfers of nuclear materials for peaceful purposes under international safeguards and inspections.
Ban all nuclear weapons tests (including underground tests) under effective verification and control.

1966 -- June 16
TREATY ON THE PEACEFUL USES OF OUTER SPACE

The United States and the Soviet Union submit draft treaties on the peaceful uses of outer space to the United Nations. A treaty is signed on January 27, 1967, and enters into force on October 10, 1967.

1967 -- December 2
INSPECTION OF U.S. NUCLEAR FACILITIES

The United States announces that it will place all nuclear facilities in the country under treaty safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), excluding only facilities with "direct national security significance."

1969 -- March 18
SEABED WEAPONS TREATY

President Richard Nixon instructs the U.S. delegation to the UN Disarmament Committee to lay the groundwork for an international agreement prohibiting the emplacement of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on the seabed and ocean floor. After several months of negotiations and consultations with Western allies, the United States drafts a treaty with the Soviet Union that is submitted to the UN Committee on Disarmament and approved on December 7, 1970. It is ratified by the United States on April 26, 1972.

1972 -- May 25
INCIDENTS AT SEA AGREEMENT

During a Moscow summit, the United States and the Soviet Union sign the "Agreement on the Prevention of Incidents On and Over the High Seas" to regulate the behavior of U.S. and Soviet naval units operating in proximity to each other. The agreement leads to a marked decrease in potentially dangerous naval encounters between the two countries.