President Ronald Reagan 's Foreign Policy

This essay will focus on the Reagan Administration which spanned from January 1981 to January 1989. When Reagan became President, he had only one clear, defined foreign policy goal – containment of the Soviet Union, or the “evil empire” as he referred to it. He primarily wanted to stop the USSR from growing larger and to keep other non-Communist countries from becoming Communist. In the past, American presidents had used a theory called the “Domino Theory” to justify the need for intervention around

A: President Ronald Reagan described the Soviet Union as the “Evil Empire” during the Cold War. President Ronald Reagan described the United States as “the shining city on a hill” during the Cold War.

In conclusion, Ronald Reagan imposed his foreign policies in order to bring the end of the Soviet Union because he regarded them as the evil empire that imposed communism. Reagan fought to bring the end of communism and the Soviet Union was the major country that was a communist based government. Reagan direct challenged the USSR into an arms race, that weakened its economy when the country spend so much money on the military advancement and development. Not only was it Reagan, but also Michael Gorbachev also imposed economic reforms of Perestroika and Glasnost that backfired. Reagan has a great impact on the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism with the assistance of Gorbachev.

Reagan configured a cabinet of the "best and the rightest." His goal was to make government smaller and get the increasing problem of federal spending under control. In Reagan’s opinion, the government did not fix problems; it was that the government was the problem. There was an effort away from the ideas of a "welfare state" and "entitlement" governmental platforms. Such that Californians had a "tax revolt" with Proposition 13 cutting property taxes and governmental services. Reagan also proposed $35 billion in budget cuts. Most of the cuts were to be in the social programs, as in food stamps and federally paid-for job training programs. The Republican Senate decided to go along with Reagan’s ideals. The Democratic House was in need of politics. Southern conservative Democrats in the House, nicknamed “boll weevils" went along with Reagan.

Reagan did not hold back when it came to providing freedom for people who weren’t as privileged as those in the US. Due to this being the case he believed that military intervention was the answer to gaining certain people their freedom, Hence the Reagan Doctrine. The Reagan doctrine allowed the United States to grow in size as all of a sudden they had insurgent fighters believing in anticommunism on their side. The Reagan doctrine allowed the US to support those who were going to rebel against the Soviet Union. This Doctrine placed the Soviets Under even more of a strain as they Soviet Union now had to combat these pockets of insurgents which ultimately became more cost worthy than the Soviets had planned it to be.

Ronald Reagan is now one of the most controversial presidents of the past fifty years. Although all have their defenders and detractors, Reagan, though not necessarily a polarizing figure, was engaged in some behavior that has caused questions as people examine his decisions. He is probably best known for his ability to communicate his conservative ideals to the public, and had an innate ability to get people to follow him. Some would say though that his strong arm tactics began the alienation of the United States from the rest of the world, and has led to this moment in time in which the US is reviled by many countries. His chief objective seemed to be to stop the Cold War and end communism as it had stood for the better seven decades, and he did accomplish his task. However, he lacked the delicate diplomatic touch that many wished he would have used. But, he was strong in his convictions ad was not afraid to voice them to any country or individual leader he believed needed to be told how to act properly. This paper looks at the situation with Libya in 1986, examines Reagan's diplomatic doctrine as it applies to this situation, and then determines the immediate and eventual impact of Reagan-led US actions.

President Reagan’s many actions helped to end the Cold War. He communicated with Gorbachev. When there is communication through the two leaders there is mutual respect. They drafted up the INF treaty. This shows that they are willing to work together try to create peace between the two countries. In a New York Times article called A President Who Listened it said, “his second term as president emphasized a different set of goals. I think he understood that it is the peacemakers, above all who earn a place in history.”

Instead he focused on building America’s defense by building economic and military power and attempt to obtain peace through strength. With a strong military and economy President Reagan could not only contain communism but reverse and subdue it. To build the economy the president started a rapid increase of quantity and quality of military technology and weapons, challenging the Soviet Union to an arm’s race. “The Soviet Union’s attempt to keep pace with the American’s military and technological advances was a significant factor in the decline of its state-run economy and helped weaken its global strength.” (Presidential Leadership in the Cold War). President Reagan put forth another policy to complete it; the U.S. would promote freedom and democracy throughout the world. Two years after the president left office, Reagan’s prediction of the collapse of the Soviet Union had come

Most discussions associate the diminishment of the empire to the change of heart of the Communists, or to other unnamed forces. (“The Man Who Won the Cold War”) However, Reagan’s actions in which he recognized the flaws of the Soviet economic system and strengthening further relations between the United States and the Soviet Union was incredibly crucial. In Reagan’s second term of presidency, he facilitated successful negotiations with Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, to implement successful policies in order to accomplish his goal of arms reduction. Ronald Reagan’s significant impact was evident to the world’s largest political figures at the time. Margaret Thatcher, crediting Reagan for the collapse of Communism by stating, "He won the Cold War without firing a shot," in a 1991 Heritage Foundation dinner in Washington. (“The Man Who Won the Cold War”) By introducing revolutionary policies, recognizing the weaknesses of Communism, and building an interpersonal relationship with the leader of the Soviet Union, President Reagan was able to contribute to the conclusion of the Cold War, unlike preceding American Presidents before

As the situation seemed, “In each case, Reagan blocked Soviet influence, but the damage done to local communities and to the international reputation of the United States, as in Vietnam, was great” (Henretta 992). Reagan thought it was dangerous for the Soviet Union to keep growing as an influence around the world. Communism was influencing many countries and ruining their relations with the US. because they refused to help Communism grow. He saw this ideology as an evil, that oppressed the people.

In the year 1981, the American, anti-communist Ronald Reagan became president of the United States (Doc 70, pg.426). During the first term of his presidency, Reagan expressed a great sense of danger and threat that was deeply embedded in his general convictions regarding the nature of communism, particularly, in the Soviet Union (Renshon and Larson, pg.15). However, Reagan eventually began to express alternative views in his second term of presidency. He significantly altered his perception of the Soviet threat and accepted the idea of possibly working together with the Soviet Union towards achieving peace (Doc 70, pg.427). This transformation is reflected though Reagan’s initial hatred towards the USSR, to his cooperation with Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit, their great attempts to negotiate at the Reykjavik Summit and finally their signing of the INF treaty. Ronald Reagan transformed from an essentialist who viewed the Soviet Union as “evil” and ruled by an ideology seeking world communism and absolute power, to an interactionist who viewed the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of mutual misinterpretation (Renshon and Larson, pg. 20). This change ultimately caused Soviet-American relations to significantly strengthen throughout the 1980’s as U.S President Reagan cooperatively worked together with USSR General Gorbachev, a leader who shared in the same goal of achieving a peaceful, non-nuclear world.

I have decided to write my research paper on the topic of Ronald Reagan's Domestic and Foreign Affairs. The reason that I choose this topic was because I have always been personally interested in Ronald Reagan's time in office and the national crisis he had to deal with. Reagan was awesome when it came to foreign policy because he knew how to negotiate with foreign leaders and their countries to get what he wanted. There were several instances during his time in office that he had the chance to use his ability to get the country out of danger. Domestic Affairs is another part of Reagan's presidency that was very important. He was able to take the country, which seemed to be in an economic slump and turn their economic status around.

The Reagan Doctrine was an aggressive foreign policy from 1981-87 in his first term as President he designed a plan to roll back Communism at its weakest points, and weaken the U.S.S.R by targeting the overthrow of its marginal allies in the non-industrialized World. Many pundits argue that it was a smashing success and dramatically undermined the power of the U.S.S.R, forcing it to retreat, and collapse by 1989. Reagan 's foreign policy could be stated by his view of the U.S.S.R as the "Evil Empire" that is an illegitimate state. He rejected the détente policy that Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter had pursued until 1979, when the U.S.S.R invaded Afghanistan proved its failure. Reagan long had opposed the containment strategy. Reagan instead proposed Rollback, a strategy to steadily reduce and eventually eliminate the Communist threat.

During the cold war era, President Reagan’s strong anti-Soviet feelings and rhetorical “attack” style was an approach that his own administration saw as extreme and even dangerous (Rowland, p 23). And unlike many American leaders before him, who avoided the strained relations between the United States and Soviet Union, President Reagan set out to exploit and end communist tyranny. President Reagan’s devotion to ending tyranny was stronger than any other leader during the time period. For example, he criticized the Carter administration for their failure to deal with "the adventurousness of the Soviet Union" (Fisher, p 303). He believed that their foreign policy enabled the Soviet Union to view the United States in a weak and vulnerable state. President Reagan 's staunch opposition to communism and his willingness to confront the Soviet Union during a time when it was not popular, played a key role in the failure of the Soviet Union. Aiding him in his lone stand against tyranny was his rhetoric style of "ideological and moral clarity." A rhetoric style that he utilized to demonstrate a strong moral position towards the Soviet Union, while reducing the risk of conflict. In doing so he was able to set the stage for successful negotiation between the two nations (Rowland, p 24). This essay will examine Ronald Reagan 's June 12, 1987, address at the Brandenburg Gate. Mainly, the rhetoric style of "ideological and moral clarity", he utilized to exploit the Soviet Union, while

President Ronald Reagan, the man who is accredited with ended the forty six year cold war was elected on Nov. 4, 1980. Reagan won his election with fifty percent of the popular vote over former President Jimmy Carter who had forty one percent. While Reagan as a president is praised for such successes as strengthening the national defense, stimulating growth in the U.S. economically, and as mentioned before he is considered the President who ended the Cold War. President Reagan had achieved many things by the end of his administration, but just as he had many successes his presidency was plagued with shortcomings and a handful of what could be considered flat out failures. The purpose of this writing is to establish and identify the ‘cons’ or failures of the Reagan administration, and provide a brief description of each different aspect of the administration.