Snap-O Fact #64

In 2010, President Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, signed a nuclear limitation treaty to reduce nuclear arsenals by one-third (1,500) and launch systems by half (800) in both countries. According to The Guardian newspaper in Great Britain, “the new treaty will cut American and Russian strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 over seven years, about a third less than the 2,200 currently allowed.” Moreover, both countries also reduce their total sea, air, and land-based launchers to 800 each with no more than 700 deployed in seven years.

Quoted from the Heritage Foundation's link below, it is interesting to remember that Ronald "Reagan, contrary to his image as a champion of the bomb, was a nuclear abolitionist. This is not a mere historical curiosity. Abolishing nuclear weapons was one of Reagan's fundamental goals for his presidency. His desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons under pinned much of what he did as President in terms of his Cold War policy".

This treaty was not only another promise kept by President Obama, it also fulfilled a fundamental vision of President Reagan.