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.
However, Ronald Reagan, U.S president between 1981-1989, was the most significant political leader to influence the ending of the Cold War. Reagan was able to encourage the end of the Cold War, more so than Gorbachev, through his unrelenting war on communism. He did this through his attitudes, actions towards the Soviet arms race and foreign policies. The way in which Ronald Reagan acted on his negative attitudes towards communism and his desire to destroy it, displays how he, more so than Gorbachev, influenced the end of the Cold War. Reagan, even before his presidency was displaying his anti-communist stance.
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).
Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981 and re-elected in 1985. He entered US presidency after the Détente policy of 1962 to 1979, a policy that he considered as being a sign of American weakness and vulnerability. In a 1981 conference, he said: "So far détente's been a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims. Their goal must be the promotion of world revolution and a one world communist or socialist state." Instead of the Détente, Reagan wished for a peace built by America’s economic and military power.
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’.
SDI – anti ballistic missiles. | In order for the USSR to keep pace with them they would face bankruptcy. American military supremacy – allow the USA to gain more meaningful concessions. | It would require vast sums of money and resources.Soviets could respond. | The Reagan Doctrine | The policy of spending assistance to anti-Communist insurgents and governments.
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
The Cold War had essentially started as a split between USA and the USSR due to ideological and strategic differences between the two countries. During the course of the Cold War, the official US foreign policy was of containment of communism. This policy fuelled by the fear of communism in USA was designed to prevent further expansion of communism. The policy emerged at a time when Eastern Europe was under the military, and increasing political, control of the Soviet Union, and when Western European countries appeared to be wobbling from their democracies because of socialist agitation and collapsing economies. Containment was a foreign policy introduced at the start of the Cold War by the United States, aimed at stopping the spread of Communism and keeping it 'contained' and isolated within its current borders, otherwise the 'domino effect' would occur, where if one nation became Communist, the surrounding ones would follow.
The main point of George Kennan’s (1947) essay was that the Soviet Union “could not enjoy a peaceful coexistence with the capitalist world.” He said, the Soviets were seeking to spread Socialism and considered capitalism its greatest enemy which would not be allowed to influence the people of Russia. In March of 1947, Kennan views influenced President Truman, and were the basis for the presidential proclamation known as the Truman Doctrine. His essay “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” was the first article written referencing the policy of containment. The essay outlined the answers to five basic questions about the United States international environment and it analyzed the “Soviet Union’s postwar outlook; the background of this outlook; a projection on practical Soviet policy, both officially and unofficially; and deductions from the standpoint of United States foreign policy.” Kennan characterized the Soviet state as believing that it has been harness and girdled by the United States and its allies which is naturally combative and prone to become hostile towards the Russia. Kennan says that the Russian people are ruled by a tyrant and these ideas are not their views but the viewpoint the Communist Party.
Following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, Fidel Castro sought even more support from the USSR to prevent any further attempts to overthrow him. This security came in the form of Soviet nuclear missiles. From an orthodox point of view this has been viewed as an act of aggression by the USSR as it brought Soviet missiles in range of continental America, however from a revisionist perspective this can be seen as a reaction to the USA's deployment of nuclear weapons throughout Europe, particularly of Jupiter missile installations based in Turkey1. Soviet aims in Cuba were defined as bridging the missile gap between the USA and USSR, defending socialism were it was threatened and to use the missiles as a bargaining tool in international politics2. On October 15th 1962 American U-2 planes obtained photographic evidence of Soviet medium range missiles on Cuban territory.