Ronald Reagan
Reagan’s View of the USSR
Speech to National
Association of
Evangelicals:
“Evil Empire”
speech, March
10, 1983
Realist Secretaries of State
Alexander Haig George Shultz
1981-1982 1982-1989
The Problems
1. Third Wave of Marxism
2. Viet Nam Syndrome
3. Decade of Neglect
1. Third Wave of Marxism
Cambodia, Viet Nam
Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique
Afghanistan
Nicaragua and leftist revolution
in El Salvador
Third Wave of Marxism
Solution to Third Wave:
Reagan Doctrine
Nicaragua
Contras
Afghanistan
Mujahadin
Angola
UNITA‟s Jonas Savimbi
2. Viet Nam Syndrome
Fall of Saigon, April 29, 1975
Solution to Viet Nam Syndrome:
Use Force
Libya 1981
Grenada 1983
Beirut 1983
3. Decade of Neglect
From: ARMING AMERICA: Attention and Inertia in U.S. National Security
Spending http://dept.lamar.edu/polisci/TRUE/True_art_tlp.html
Soviet ICBMs 1980s-90s
From, US Dept of Defense, Soviet Military Power, 1987:
http://www.fas.org/irp/dia/product/smp_87_ch2.htm
Solution to Decade of Neglect
Source: Center for Defense Information 2004 Yearbook
(http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~jephrean/classweb/United%20State
s.html)
Strategic Defense Initiative
Reagan‟s SDI speech, March 23, 1983
From: http://www.milnet.com/pentagon/spacecom/sdi.gif
Political/Cultural Effects
Case Study of Reagan Doctrine
Nicaragua
Revolution in Nicaragua
Anastasio Daniel Ortega,
Somoza leader of the
Pres. of Nicaragua Sandinistas
Contras
Key Phrase of 2nd Boland Amendment:
(1984-1986)
''No funds available to the Central
Intelligence Agency, the Department of
Defense or any other agency or entity of the
United States involved in intelligence
activities may be obligated or expended for
the purpose or which would have the effect
of supporting, directly or indirectly, military
or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by
any nation, group, organization, movement
or individual.'„
From: NY TIMES on line: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/16/world/iran-contra-
hearings-text-of-key-amendment.html?pagewanted=1; For Excerpts and explanation,
from US Government Accountability Office – GAO,
http://redbook.gao.gov/14/fl0067296.php
Contra Scandal
Private US $
Foreign Gov‟t $
Contras
Swiss bank
accounts;
controlled
by Oliver North
of NSC Staff
Some Congressional Restrictions on
Arms Sales in 1980s
Arms Export Control Acts
No arms sales to nations determined
to be sponsors of terrorism (US State
Dept determines which nations fit
into this category; it included Iran)
No arms sales of over $25 m in value
without congressional approval
(1974); A 1976 bill lowered this to
$14 m for sophisticated weaponry
and $50 m for other items
• Both the House and Senate would have to
reject the arms sales
The Iran Contra Scandal
Private US $
Foreign Gov‟t $
Contras
Swiss bank
accounts;
controlled
by North
$$$
Iran Hostages
weapons
US
Israel
weapons
The Fight Over the Contras
William Adm. John Lt. Col.
Casey Poindexter Oliver North
Big Picture Issue
Congress has the power to restrict US
government spending
Can the President ignore those
restrictions?
Can President ignore aspects of law
President does not agree with?
If so, does Congress have any role to
shape foreign policy?
If so, do we have checks and
balances?
The End of the Cold War
Leonid Yuri Konstantin
Brezhnev Andropov Chernenko
1964-1982 1982-1984
1984-1985
New Soviet Leadership
General Secretary Foreign Minister
Mikhail Gorbachev Eduard
Shevardnadze
Gorbachev’s New
Thinking
• Perestroika: Restructuring
• Glasnost: Openness
• Foreign Policy
• 1987: Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty
• 1990: Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE)
Treaty
• 1991: Strategic Arms reduction Treaty (START)
Treaty
Berlin Wall 1989
The USSR “Empire”
August 1991
and the Fall of USSR
Boris Yeltsin
Why did the USSR collapse?
Why did the Cold War end?