Nixon and Brezhnev sign SALT I; no sitting president has ever set foot in Moscow before today

With the Cold War's nuclear shadow still stretching over both hemispheres, Richard Nixon flew to Moscow in May 1972 for a summit with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev — the first visit to the Soviet Union by a sitting American president. The two leaders signed SALT I, the first comprehensive arms limitation pact between the superpowers, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned systems designed to intercept incoming nuclear missiles. The agreements did not end the arms race, but they acknowledged, formally and in ink, that neither side could shoot its way to safety…