Instead of the Détente, Reagan wished for a peace built by America’s economic and military power. Ronald Reagan’s policies were based on the ideologies of spreading freedom and democracy around the world to block the advancement on Soviet Communism. He promoted democracy and all its qualities to countries throughout the world including the Soviet Union. His peaceful policies significantly contributed to the end of the cold war. Reagan detested the oppression of Marxism-Leninism and in 1982 he gave a speech at the British parliament during which he expressed the hope that it would end up “on the ash heap of history”.
In the 1970s, Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter pursued détente, the reduction of Cold War tensions and achievement of peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union. President Reagan strongly disliked détente. The arms race was very expensive for both superpowers. The Non-Proliferation Treaty did not stop other countries developing nuclear weapons (eg China, and perhaps South Africa and
Reagan, even before his presidency was displaying his anti-communist stance. In 1977, Reagan famously commented on a national radio broadcast “My idea of American policy toward the Soviet Union is simple, and some would say simplistic. It is this: We win and they lose”(Jarausch, K. 2012) This stand paved the way for the hard line he would draw against the Soviets during his Presidency. Reagan, throughout his time in office, anticipated that communism would inevitably collapse in on itself, he just wanted to be the man that triggered the fall. In 1981, at the beginning of his presidency, he spoke about how he planned to use his attitudes to end communism, and in turn the Cold War.
I will be talking about President Reagan’s Doctrine and some of what happened during his administration. President Reagan was our 40th President (Jan.1981-Jan.1989). During his time in office, the United States used their diplomatic resources to stop Soviet expansionism in the developing world. President Reagan wanted to overthrow pro-Soviet regimes, so his administration focused on supporting proxy armies to stop the Soviet influence (Roskin, 1999, p. 58). One of President Reagan’s biggest achievements was the end of the Cold War.
Though this treat he was able to have his way at the Yalta conference. Truman thought of America as the World’s atomic power and was assured by Cabinet advisers; America would reign supreme in the arms race. However Joseph Stalin was also attempting to build Russia’s power in this arms race too. Truman began to get tough on Russia in 1946 when there were strong protests in the Iran against Russian Troops. The Soviets had denied sharing control of the Turkish Straits as they had claimed they would not have.
We know that in the past divorce was very hard to get as it was only legal for the men to file a divorce and was socially unacceptable. However over the years the government has been passing laws in order to make divorce easier and cheaper. In 1969, the Divorce Reform Act was introduced which made it much easier to get a divorce. Also the law that was passed in 1984; which allowed couples to only stay in a marriage for one year before filing a divorce, helped make divorce easier. Statistics have shown that due to these legal changes more women are filing divorces as 7/10 women have filed a divorce compared to men.
If the United States cannot respond to a threat near our own borders, why should Europeans or Asians believe that we're seriously concerned about threats to them? If the Soviets can assume that nothing short of an actual attack on the United States will provoke an American response, which ally, which friend will trust us then? (Reagan, 2012). This statement had to do with his concern over the events that were happening in Central America, which during this time had the Pro Soviet Sandinista government running Nicaragua which in had just ridded itself a previous dictatorship in 1979. This was also problematic because in 1981, Sandinista-supported Marxist guerrillas launched an offensive against the government of El Salvador, which was pro-American (Russell, 2010).
In his work, Fleming explained that if the Soviets wanted to attack the united states of America they had done it because they had all the necessary equipment but at that period the nation was more interested in its inner politics than conquering the world. Seeing the Soviet Union as its biggest threat and being afraid of the “Domino” effect, the American government decided to take actions by supporting the rebels in Latin America and countries that were gaining their independence in a hope that these societies will adopt the capitalist ideology. The decisions that the USA made where not always elaborated and in some cases they did more harm than good. Isolating the U.S.S.R from the world politics was
Source 3 shifts the focus to America, arguing that it was a combination of Ronald Reagan’s personal skills and his vision of a nuclear-free world which brought the Cold War to an end. In truth, the end of the Cold War was brought about by extraordinary efforts on both sides. Gorbachev recognised the ideological and economic problems facing the Soviet Union, and Reagan created an environment in which it was possible for Gorbachev to compromise without appearing weak. Gorbachev’s ‘extraordinary role’ is emphasised in Source 1. Historian Ken Booth argues that Gorbachev was the first Soviet leader to publicly recognise the fact that there were ‘discrepancies between Marxist-Leninist doctrine and reality’.
The Soviet Union was structured to the tastes of the leader at the helm, and so served his interests. The policies in place served not to improve the economic, social or economic fortunes of the entire nation but to concur with the ideological leanings of the leader in office. So was the case with communism. Despite this production model failing utterly to satisfy the basic demands of the ordinary Soviet citizen, it remained in place. They thought a departure from this model would signify a Soviet surrender to the Capitalist West in the ideological war.