Fifty-three years ago today, on October 3, 1972 (August 26, 1972), the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty on the Limitation of Arms. October 3, 1972. President Nixon signed an arms agreement with Soviet leader Gromyko, a move Nixon hoped would increase the peace factor and the likelihood of his re-election. In a lavishly decorated ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Nixon and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko signed two separate agreements. The more important one limited the number of defensive missiles that the United States and the Soviet Union could place at their respective bases to no more than 200. The second was a temporary agreement limiting each side's offensive land and submarine missiles. Under this agreement, the Soviet Union would continue to have the advantage in the total number of missiles, but the United States would have more multiple missile warheads. Nixon and Gromyko also agreed to begin a new round of talks in Geneva to limit offensive weapons. Nixon called today's agreement a "first step" toward a broader treaty. Gromyko agreed, calling the two new agreements "important achievements in limiting the arms race." Nixon sought to gain as much political advantage as possible from the new treaty. He held a separate signing ceremony on Saturday for a congressional resolution supporting the agreement.