The two only reached agreement on the issue of Laos due to Khrushchev 's flexible attitude regarding the situation in Southeast Asia (13). The fact that, despite pressing interests around the world, agreement could only be reached on the issue of Laos, may have rebuffed some of the leaders’ hopes for a period of relative détente. Both leaders also established nuclear testing as an important issue moving forward (16). Kennedy was fearful of nuclear testing because of the fallout material that could be circulating in the wind across the globe. Khrushchev was reluctant to establish a nuclear inspections regime that would both allow the potential for espionage and limit his autonomy.
Reagan reversed the policy of detente and stood firm against the Soviet Union, he was ruthless in pushing his SDI and gave aid to rebels battling Soviet-backed Marxists. Those efforts were critical in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union and actually ended the Cold War.
This tactic would both fulfill a promise made by the United States and exact punishment on the Arabs using their own propaganda ... ... middle of paper ... ... most importantly Soviet armies withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. All of these helped to break the Soviet Union. Reagan had successfully pushed back the Red Tide (Kissinger 773-774). The Reagan administration achieved these successes by putting into practice what became known as the Reagan Doctrine: that the United States would help anticommunist counterinsurgencies wrest their respective countries out of the Soviet sphere of influence. Reagan's strategic policies helped bring an end to the Cold War.
The nuclear weapon raised the confidence of USA but president Truman did not ordered its mass production because at that time he saw no explicit political function for the bomb. USA even tried to internationalize control of the bomb under the UNITED NATIONS but the Soviets were reluctant to support American plan for two reasons. To stop soviet nuclear program before developing the first soviet bomb would give Americans permanent lead in nuclear weapons technology. Soviets believed that instruments of force always have political capabilities. For the Kremlin weapons were political tools.
But for all that he didn't participate in, Reagan had an extreme passion for foreign politics, despite being warned against it and the beginning of his term to focus on the economy and its continued downward slide. His passion showed in his dealings with the Soviet Union, especially after the rise. He was instrumental in the reduction of arms of the world's superpowers and key in the resurgence, in the United States, of military spending. But, when it came to foreign policy, Reagan had very different views than his predecessors. Reagan did not believe in detente, he did not believe in appeasement, and he did not believe in the isolationist movement that had populated American thought for the better part of the 20th century.
Kennedy threatened invasion and he would have had support of the entire nation if he had proceeded with this plan. Khrushchev obviously didn’t want war as he eventually agreed to remove the missiles and allow the US to have a nuclear advantage. Why would Khrushchev agree to remove the missiles without any US promise to remove their missiles or not to invade Cuba? The answer is obvious. Khrushchev did not want war with the United States.
The atomic bomb became the final step to ending WWII, meaning that the war ended on U.S. terms and conditions. The U.S. had previously been waiting for the Soviet Union to join in the fight against the Japanese, but they knew that waiting could mean a prolonged war and the appearance of being weak. The atomic bomb meant that the U.S. “should not need the Russians” (Document E). The U.S. wanted to make it clear to the Soviet Union that they would not submit to their every demand. “Unconditional surrender” on U.S. terms also meant that other nations, including the Soviet Union, would not be able to have decision making power when it came to bargaining or signing treaties.
However, in doing so he got wrapped up in the Iran-Contra Affair, which will forever be tied to his name in a negative regard. Within America, Reagan was able to improve society such as his success in curbing the use of illegal drugs. Ronald Reagan is often times cited as the best president the United States has ever had, due to his relentless attacks on communism and illegal drug use in America, even with his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. Ronald Reagan was tremendously successful in his pursuit to end communism around the world, and to stop the “evil empire” that he believed was the Soviet Union (General Article: Reagan Quotes). There are many ways in which Ronald Reagan was able to put a stop to communism.
In this paper I will talk about how I believe it should be done and what opponents to my view believe. I will also talk about how there are many complexities to nuclear strategy and it’s not as easy as just removing weapons. But the main focus on this paper is what should the function of a nuclear weapon be and that’s deterrence. Deterrence is a military strategy in which the main purpose is to prevent an attack by the enemy or to persuade an enemy not to attack you knowing they will be equally destroyed. Luckily during the Cold War era despite a rapid increase in weapons technologies there was no large-scale strategic conflict since the Second World War.
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. 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 the world. The theory speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. Prior to the Reagan Administration, the United States had already made several attempts to fight the spread of C... ... middle of paper ... ...idual states, effectively ending the Cold War.