policy of aggressively confronting the Soviet Union. Given that the United States Navy had a policy of deliberate ambiguity during the Cold War and refused to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard its warships and support ships, these laws essentially refused access to New Zealand ports for all United States Navy vessels. In February 1985, a port-visit request by the United States for the guided-missile destroyer USS Buchanan was refused by New Zealand, as the Buchanan was capable of launching RUR-5 ASROC nuclear depth bombs. As this occurred after the government unofficially invited the United States to send a ship, the refusal of access was interpreted by the United States as a deliberate slight. According to opinion polls taken before the 1984 election, only 30 percent of New Zealanders supported visits by US warships with a clear majority of 58 percent opposed, and over 66 percent of the population lived in locally declared nuclear-free zones. An opinion poll commissioned by the 1986 Defence Committee of Enquiry confirmed that 92 per cent now opposed nuclear weapons in New Zealand and 69 per cent opposed warship visits; 92 per cent wanted New Zealand to promote nuclear disarmament through the UN, while 88 per cent supported the promotion of nuclear-free zones. However other polls indicated that the majority of the population would support visits by American warships which might be nuclear armed or powered, if the alternative was that New Zealand would have to withdraw from ANZUS. United States suspends obligations to New Zealand After consultations with Australia and after negotiations with New Zealand broke down, the United States announced that it was suspending its treaty obligations to New Zealand until United States Navy ships were re-admitted to New Zealand ports, citing that New Zealand was "a friend, but not an ally". The crisis made front-page headlines for weeks in many American newspapers. David Lange did not withdraw New Zealand from ANZUS, although his government's policy led to the US's decision to suspend its treaty obligations to New Zealand. An opinion poll in New Zealand in 1991, showed 54% of those sampled preferred to let the treaty lapse rather than accept visits again by nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered vessels. The policy did not become law until 8 June 1987 with the passing of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987, more than two years after the