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Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or Non-Prolfieration Treaty (NPT) is an international treaty developed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology. Between 1965 and 1968, the treaty was negotiated by the United Nation's Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament. The treaty was first opened for signatures in 1968 and entered into force in 1970. See also the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference collection. [Image: US Ambassador Llewellyn E. Thompson signs the NPT as Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko watches in Moscow, Russia, on July 1, 1968.]

Popular Documents

April 9, 1968

Excerpts from Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev’s speech at the April 1968 Plenum of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party

Brezhnev discusses negotiations with the United States over the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

July 19, 1969

Memorandum from Henry Kissinger to President Nixon, 'Israeli Nuclear Program'

The memorandum lays out substantive and significant line of thinking about the complex problem raised by the Israeli nuclear program. Kissinger thought it might be possible to persuade the Israelis that with all of the NPT’s loopholes signing it would not prevent them from continuing their weapons research and development. Kissinger also recognized the real possibility that the Israeli development momentum could not be stopped.

October 8, 1963

Letter from Gomulka to Khrushchev, Marked 'Final Version'

Letter from Gomulka to Khrushchev discussing Polish opposition to Soviet proposal for a Non-Proliferation Treaty. Gomulka suggests that the treaty will further split the communist camp. While discussing the state of Sino-Soviet relations, the Polish leader suggests that the Soviet Union and the PRC adopt a common position in matters of foreign policy in order to strengthen the power of the Socialist camp.

May 31, 1968

Compilation of Comments on the Treaty of Tlatelolco Formulated during the General Debate of the First Committee on the Topic of the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Excluding Those of the Representative of Mexico...)

This memorandum is a compendium of comments about the Treaty of Tlatelolco made by different delegations at the UN. It includes statements by the delegates from the United States, Brazil, Ireland, Ethiopia, Austria, Italy, Pakistan, El Salvador, Mauritania, Iraq, Greece, Spain, Tanzania, Zambia, the Netherlands, Argentina, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Canada, Jordan, Ecuador, Guyana, Colombia, Malta, Panama, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Peru, in that order.

March 17, 1967

Record of Conversations between L. I. Brezhnev and N. Ceausescu, 17 March 1967

Brezhnev and Ceausescu begin by extending warm welcomes to one another before diving into the importance of finalizing a draft of a nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Most of the discussion is spent arguing over the relevance of disarmament within the treaty.