President Richard M. Nixon shakes hands with Communist Party leader Leonid Brezhnev in this May 1972, photo in Moscow after the two signed a joint statement of long-range principles agreeing to avoid military confrontations and envisioning total world disarmament. Premier Alexei Kosygin is at left center, behind Nixon's copy of the treaty. U.S. government officials said Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2001, that President Bush, eager to deploy a missile shield long sought by Republicans, soon will give Russia notice that the United States is withdrawing from the 1972 treaty. (AP Photo)