Political Museum Quality: U.S. State Department Jacket Worn In Historic 1980s 'START' Russia/US Treaty Negotiations

This Jacket is for sale in our Etsy Shop 

ThePastAndMore

Background about this 'Very Historic & Very Rare Jacket'!

See the Video on our video site - Click link below

U.S. State Department Jacket Video

As seen on the back of the Jacket, it has has “NUCLEAR & SPACE TALKS” embroidered (the U.S.Gov't used NST as an abbreviation). The NST talks were a core part of the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) talks that started in 1982. On the front of the jacket it also has “START” embroidered and a large Capital “N” which stood for “Nuclear”.

We purchased this Jacket directly from a lady who was retired from the U.S. State Dept. She had been stationed in Geneva for approximately 15 years and had been involved in the Nuclear Space Talks…a very interesting person to talk to! The jacket tag shows it is a ‘Medium’, which has to be a ladies medium size as the jacket fits my wife nearly perfect who wears a size 10.

The START program, of which the Nuclear Space Talks were part of, was President Reagan's ‘Strategic Defense Initiative’ program. The NST covered strategic nuclear arms, intermediate-range nuclear forces, defense and space. The Strategic Defense Initiative program was informally called & referred to as “Star Wars” at that time by Sen. Kennedy, a clear reference to the movie 'Star Wars'.

This jacket was a part of incredibly serious talks. Make no mistake or under-estimation of that time period. As I understood that situation, various State Department teams tried very hard for nearly (9) years to maintain an attitude that they could and would overcome the Russian position of hardline negotiations.

Several different American teams were involved in various parts of the treaty negotiations at the same time…Each team was involved in working on a specific Treaty issue. This lady’s team decided they wanted “team jackets”! Each team member had a team nickname & their nickname was placed right on the front of the jacket. Her nickname was ‘Biff’. I asked how she got that nickname and she said for some reason, everyone on her team called her ‘Biff’, so the name stuck (after talking with her for a while, I could see why her nickname was Biff, she was great!).

Some teams had other items to keep their morale going…I have seen a couple of coffee cups for ‘START’, but I have seen absolutely nothing that comes even close to the importance and rarity of this jacket….Some teams even held backyard BBQ’s with their Russian counterparts in an attempt to keep their negotiations on a friendly basis.

In 1983 the Soviets suspended the START talks…but in January 1985, the US and Russia started meeting again in Geneva to set an agenda for the Nuclear Space Talks. In March 1983 serious NST Negotiation talks began once again. President Reagan didn’t trust the Russians and wanted America to always have the greatest strength. Our State Department teams negotiated, worked hard & obtained a treaty.

The START Treaty ‘with’ NST was finally signed by the United States and Russia in 1991. For more information, there is a LOT of information on the internet. Please review the background of the SALT negotiations which started in President Nixon's 1970's which progressed into the 1980's President Reagan START Treaty negotiations...ultimately ending in a 1991 Russia / U.S. Treaty.