On October 7th, 1963 President John F. Kennedy signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty which was also ratified that fall by the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. The treaty was designed to rein in the dangerous nuclear arms race being played out by the U.S. and U.S.S.R. It called for a halt to all nuclear testing underwater, in the atmosphere and in space. At the time distinguishing underground tests from natural seismic occurrences would have posed a unique diplomatic challenge and such tests were excluded from the ban.
Agreement on the terms of the treaty came at the end of nearly 10 years worth of negotiations between the United States and Soviet Union and marked a large step towards the goal of nuclear non-proliferation.
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