Soviet Union–United States summits were held from 1943 to 1991. The topics discussed at the summits between the President of the United States and either the General Secretary or the Premier of the Soviet Union ranged from fighting the Axis Powers during World War II to arms control between the two superpowers themselves during the Cold War.[1]
Allies of World War II[]

The "Big Three" Allied leaders (left to right) at the Yalta Conference, February 1945: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.

Clement Attlee, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, July 1945.
Date | Place | Country | President of the United States | General Secretary or Premier of the Soviet Union | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 28–December 1, 1943 | Tehran | ![]() |
Franklin D. Roosevelt | Joseph Stalin | Also in attendance Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom. |
February 4–11, 1945 | Yalta | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Joseph Stalin | Also in attendance Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom. First visit by a United States President to the Soviet Union.[3] See Yalta Conference | |
July 17–August 2, 1945 | Potsdam | Allied-occupied Germany[4] | Harry S. Truman | Joseph Stalin | Also in attendance Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee of the United Kingdom. |
Cold War (1953–1962)[]
Nikita Khrushchev views the wreckage of a downed Lockheed U-2. The 1960 U-2 incident was a major topic at the May 16–17, 1960 summit in Paris.

Nikita Khrushchev meeting John F. Kennedy at the Vienna Summit, June 1961
Date | Place | Country | President of the United States | General Secretary or Premier of the Soviet Union | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 18–23, 1955 | Geneva | ![]() |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin | Also in attendance Prime Minister Anthony Eden of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France.
See Geneva Summit |
September 15, 26–27, 1959 | Washington, D.C. and Camp David | United States[6][7] | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Nikita Khrushchev | First visit by a Soviet leader to the United States. |
May 16–17, 1960 | Paris | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Nikita Khrushchev | Also in attendance Prime Minister Harold Macmillan of the United Kingdom and President Charles de Gaulle of France. Khrushchev left the summit due to the dispute over the 1960 U-2 incident. | |
June 3–4, 1961 | Vienna | ![]() |
John F. Kennedy | Nikita Khrushchev | See Vienna Summit |
Cold War (1962–1979)[]
Date | Place | Country | President of the United States | General Secretary or Premier of the Soviet Union | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 23 and 25, 1967 | Glassboro | United States[6] | Lyndon B. Johnson | Alexei Kosygin | See Glassboro Summit Conference |
May 22–30, 1972 | Moscow | Richard Nixon | Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin | Signing of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), and the U.S.–Soviet Incidents at Sea Agreement. See Moscow Summit (1972). | |
June 18–25, 1973 | Washington, D.C. | United States[6] | Richard Nixon | Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin | Signing of the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War. |
June 28–July 3, 1974 | Moscow | Richard Nixon | Leonid Brezhnev | Signing of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT). | |
November 23–24, 1974 | Vladivostok | Gerald Ford | Leonid Brezhnev | See Vladivostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control | |
July 30 and August 2, 1975 | Helsinki | ![]() |
Gerald Ford | Leonid Brezhnev | See Helsinki Accords and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe |
June 15–18, 1979 | Vienna | ![]() |
Jimmy Carter | Leonid Brezhnev | Signing of the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II). |

Leonid Brezhnev meets with Richard Nixon during the Soviet leader's trip to the U.S. in June 1973

Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signing SALT II Treaty, June 18, 1979, in Vienna
Cold War (1985–1991)[]

Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan sign the INF Treaty at the White House in December 1987

George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev at the Helsinki summit in 1990
Date | Place | Country | President of the United States | General Secretary or Premier of the Soviet Union | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 19–21, 1985 | Geneva | ![]() |
Ronald Reagan | Mikhail Gorbachev | See Geneva Summit |
October 10–12, 1986 | Reykjavík | ![]() |
Ronald Reagan | Mikhail Gorbachev | See Reykjavík Summit |
December 7–10, 1987 | Washington, D.C. | United States[6] | Ronald Reagan | Mikhail Gorbachev | Signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. See Washington Summit. |
May 29–June 1, 1988 | Moscow | Ronald Reagan | Mikhail Gorbachev | See Moscow Summit (1988). | |
December 7, 1988 | New York City | United States[6] | Ronald Reagan | Mikhail Gorbachev | Also in attendance President-elect George H. W. Bush. Gorbachev left the summit early due to the 1988 Spitak earthquake which struck the Armenian S.S.R. that same day. |
December 2–3, 1989 | Valletta | ![]() |
George H. W. Bush | Mikhail Gorbachev | See Malta Summit |
May 30–June 3, 1990 | Washington, D.C. | United States[6] | George H. W. Bush | Mikhail Gorbachev | Signing of the 1990 Chemical Weapons Accord |
September 9, 1990 | Helsinki | ![]() |
George H. W. Bush | Mikhail Gorbachev | Discussed the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.[14] |
November 19, 1990 | Paris | George H. W. Bush | Mikhail Gorbachev | Signing of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. | |
July 17, 1991 | London | George H. W. Bush | Mikhail Gorbachev | Held in conjunction with the 17th G7 Summit. | |
July 30–31, 1991 | Moscow | George H. W. Bush | Mikhail Gorbachev | Signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I). | |
October 29–30, 1991 | Madrid | ![]() |
George H. W. Bush | Mikhail Gorbachev | Held in conjunction with the Madrid Conference of 1991. |
See also[]
- Arms control
- Cold War
- Détente
- Foreign policy of the United States
- Foreign relations of the Soviet Union
- List of international trips made by the President of the United States
- Nuclear disarmament
- Soviet Union–United States relations
- List of Russia–United States summits
References[]
- ↑ Fain III, W. Taylor "Chronology: US-Soviet summits, 1943-1991" Archived 2011-11-09 at the Wayback Machine. US Department of State Dispatch, August 12, 1991
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Travels of President Franklin D. Roosevelt". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63gnJLpqs?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/roosevelt-franklin-d.
- ↑ "Presidents Travels to Russia". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2012-01-03. https://www.webcitation.org/64PB46AE9?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/russia.
- ↑ "Travels of President Harry S. Truman". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63go7tl43?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/truman-harry-s.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63goC10Wd?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/eisenhower-dwight-d.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "Visits By Foreign Leaders of Russia". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05. https://www.webcitation.org/64SFxxL8f?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/visits/russia.
- ↑ "1959 Year In Review Khrushchev Visits the United States". United Press International. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05. https://www.webcitation.org/64SGRRTiR?url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1959/Khrushchev-Visits-the-United-States/12295509433704-8/.
- ↑ "Travels of President John F. Kennedy". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63goGt8ev?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/kennedy-john-f.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Travels of President Richard M. Nixon". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63goRswKm?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/nixon-richard-m.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Travels of President Gerald R. Ford". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63goWGZIu?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/ford-gerald-r.
- ↑ "Travels of President Jimmy Carter". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63goarqHc?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/carter-jimmy.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Travels of President Ronald Reagan". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63gpFw8s3?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/reagan-ronald.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 "Travels of President George H. W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. https://www.webcitation.org/63gpLb7Kk?url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/bush-george-h-w.
- ↑ "Joint News Conference of President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in Helsinki, Finland September 9, 1990". The American Presidency Project. Archived from the original on January 5, 2012. https://www.webcitation.org/64SGmHxCq?url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=18810.
External links[]
- Zbigniew Brzezinski interviewed about the summits from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
- "Address to the Nation on the Soviet-United States Summit Meeting December 10, 1987". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Archived from the original on January 5, 2012. https://www.webcitation.org/64SH7roDr?url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/121087d.htm.
- "Reagan, Gorbachev and Bush at Governor's Island". The National Security Archive. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05. https://www.webcitation.org/64SHTEdAJ?url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB261/index.htm.
The original article can be found at List of Soviet Union–United States summits and the edit history here.