The Regan Doctrine: Past and Present This paper is here to examine the doctrine of President Ronald Reagan (1980-1988). Using multiple sources, the paper will show how the doctrine had a profound on the Cold War and the aftermath that would affect America‘s future. The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan In 1979, The Soviet Union began its invasion of Afghanistan. According to Roskin and Berry (2010), the main reasons the Soviets invaded Afghanistan were: 1. To protect the Pro-Soviet Afghan government from being overthrown by rebels.
The United States felt that it needed a role in Iran if the current regime failed. The arms deal gave them that role. They felt that they needed to stop the Soviet spread from getting to Iran. By providing them with arms, they would be able to harass the Soviet flanks if they invaded (Richelson, 419). The Soviets became aware of this and it became a large deterrent to keep them from
Reagan thought that the United States needed to prepare its military defense systems just in case the Soviets decided to nuke the Americans. He believed that military preparedness would lead to and achieve peace among the countries. Reagan, with the help of his advisors and his two administrations, developed this Cold War Strategy. They spent billions of dollars
A situation that required U.S. diplomatic efforts while President Reagan was in office was the effort to stop communism. The United States policy during the initial years of the Cold War was to contain communism. When President Reagan came into office, the focus went from keeping communism from spreading to the elimination of existing communist governments all together. The Soviet Union and the United States were considered the superpowers of the world, before the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan while Jimmy Carter was President of the United States.
Oil profits have been the motivating factors behind many attempts at counterinsurgency of democratic regimes by the CIA and the U.S in the Middle East (such as Iran in the 1950s, where the Shah replaced the Prime Minister who refused to give up oil rights to the U.S., and since the people couldnt deal with the Shah, an extremist government headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini ultimately prevailed). During the Iran-Iraq war, America supplied both sides with weapons and advice. These are not the actions of a rich superpower wanting peace. Lets not forget that Saddam Hussein, before being Americas vision of the Anti-Christ, was a close ally of the U.S., and the CIA. So what was the firm belief system of consecutive American administrations that caused all this to occur ?
When Reagan became President he had only one well-defined foreign policy goal: containing the Soviet Union or the "evil empire" as he once referred to it (Reagan 1983). He primarily wanted to stop the USSR from growing larger and to keep other non-Communist countries from becoming Communist. He disliked the decade-long Détente begun by President Nixon and continued by President Ford. Détente is defined as a relaxation of strained relations or tensions between nations, in this case the two nations being the United States and the Soviet Union. Reagan firmly believed that the USSR was using Détente and the SALT talks to take advantage of the United States.
New period of the Cold War began with the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev as leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev was a revolutionary leader for the USSR, as he was the first to promote liberalization of the political landscape (Glasnost) and capitalist elements into the economy (Perestroika) Confrontation between United States and the Soviet Union were nearly always focused on economic pressure, selective aid, diplomatic maneuver, propaganda, assassination, low-intensity military operations – in order to avoid a direct confrontation that could cause a nuclear war. Ronald Reagan 1911-2004 Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate a former CIA chief, Texas congressman and United Nations ambassador, George H.W. Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of American hostages in Iran, swept the Republican ticket into office.
This was also a big reason why the American citizens were against the Vietnam War. After gathering an abundant amount information from various sources it’s safe to conclude that Vietcong is much more advanced and well prepared to war than Southern Vietnam and America. America didn’t have adequate tactics, and were poorly supported by their people. Alongside, Vietcong was well prepared as they had previous experience from the Guerrilla war and were aided by various other countries, which were close to their homeland. Also, the war occurred on Vietnamese ground, which was familiar to the Vietcong’s because they were able to use this information to their
In doing so, he went to Korea just after he was elected to see if he could see a solution in ending the war, but no solution was found. Later on in the spring U.S. officials had hinted to the Chinese government that the President might expand the war into China and even use nuclear weapons. “[T]hese veiled threats may have encouraged the Chinese to reach a settlement, yet there is also reliable evidence that the Soviet leaders who came to power after Stalin's death in March 1953 worried about U.S. escalation and pressed for an end to the war” (“American President A Reference Resource”, 5). Eisenhower went through great strategies to make sure his country was a safe and prosperous
Also an unforgettable achievement of Reagans was ending the cold war which had been raging all the way back since World War 2 and America’s fear of communisms quest for world domination. He accomplished this by reversing the policy of détente and stood firm against the Soviet Union and giving aid to the rebels battling soviet-backed Marxists from Nicaragua to Angola which was critical in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet empire and ended the cold war. Despite the fact Reagan was excellent at speeches his belief in peace through strength became a realization and in the long run an important achievement. Basically since the military was diminished during the Carter years Reagan had to think of a way to rebuild and strengthen our military. He accomplished this by reviving the B-1 bomber that carter canceled, starting production of the MX missile, and pushing NATO to push Pershing missiles in West Germany.