The Nation: SALT: SIGNS OF A NEW SAVOR

IN almost total secrecy, President Nixon made contact with "highest-level" Soviet officials last January, among them Premier Aleksei Kosygin. The talks continued until last week, when Nixon—and the Soviets—finally broke silence. Appearing briefly on TV, the President announced a "significant development" in ending the deadlock in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. After 18 months of probing, the U.S. and Russia had reached an agreement on how to proceed toward limiting nuclear weapons. It was, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

By its announcement, the White House intended—as one aide put it —to administer...