In 1977, West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt visited U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the White House in Washington, DC. The main topic of the contentious meeting was the policy of détente between West and East. Integral to Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy were campaigns for human rights, including human rights violations in Eastern Europe. But Chancellor Schmidt wanted assurances that the focus on human rights would not jeopardize détente efforts in Central Europe. Both sides agreed on an initiative to reduce conventional forces in Central Europe (Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions or MBFR) with their NATO partners.