Reagan’s Foreign Policy 32-2

1. Reagan’s Foreign Policy32-2 • The Main Idea • President Reagan took a hard line against communism around the world. • Reading Focus • How did President Reagan help to bring about the end of the Cold War? • What foreign trouble spots persisted during Reagan’s presidency? • How did the Iran-Contra Affair undermine the president?

2. Bell Ringer • Can simple words knock down a cement wall?

3. In his first term, Reagan rejected the policies of containment and détente; he wanted to destroy communism. Position worsened relations with the Soviets Forged bonds with like-minded leaders, including Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II Critics of his policy called Reagan reckless Reagan obtained massive increases in military spending. Much of the new spending went to nuclear weapons. Promoted the Strategic Defense initiative (SDI)—a shield in space to protect the United States against incoming Soviet missiles. Critics called this Star Wars and said it wouldn’t work. President Reagan and the Cold War

4. The Soviet Union By the late 1970s the Soviet economy was shrinking. Industrial and farm production, population growth, education, and medical care all fell. The Soviet Union started importing food Strikes in Poland led by Lech Walesa highlighted Soviet weaknesses. Walesa successfully forced the Soviet-backed government to legalize independent trade unions. He also led a new independent union called Solidarity. U.S.-Soviet Relations A visionary leader came to power in the Soviet Union—Mikhail Gorbachev. Believed the only way to save the Soviet Union was to strike a deal with the United States Between 1985 and 1988 Reagan and Gorbachev met four times and produced the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. First treaty to actually reduce nuclear arms INF Treaty destroyed a whole class of weapons (more than 2,500 missiles). A Thaw in the Cold War

5. Latin America—the United States supported several anti-Communist governments and rebel groups in the region Lebanon—the United States was part of an international peacekeeping force that tried to halt the country’s civil war Grenada—Reagan sent 5,000 marines to invade the island in order to stop a violent Communist coup South Africa—Congress overrode a Reagan veto and passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act to help end apartheid in the country What foreign trouble spots persisted during Reagan’s presidency?

6. Upheaval in Latin America • Violent civil war between Marxist guerrillas and government troops supported by armed extremist groups • Reagan administration supported José Napoleón Duarte—a moderate leader who won the 1984 election. El Salvador • U.S-backed Anastasio Somoza Debayle was ousted by the Sandinistas—a Marxist group. • Reagan cut off aid to Nicaragua saying that the Sandinistas were backed by the USSR. • Reagan then allowed the CIA to equip and train a Sandinista opposition group called the Contras. • Congress cut off funds to the Contras and banned all further direct or indirect U.S. support of them. Nicaragua

7. Trouble Spots Abroad • Lebanon • Muslim and Christian groups waged a civil war. • Israel invaded Lebanon to expel the PLO. • U.S. sent 800 peacekeepers. • A suicide bomber killed 241 marines. • Reagan withdrew the troops. • Grenada • 1983 Communist coup stranded 800 U.S. students. • Cuba’s role and students’ safety concerned Reagan. • Reagan sent in soldiers who took the island in two days with a loss of 19 soldiers. • South Africa • Apartheid enforced legalized racial segregation. • Reagan’s policy was one of “constructive engagement” with the white minority government. • Congress overrode his veto and imposed trade limits and other sanctions.

8. Despite the Congressional ban on U.S. funds for the Contras war, Reagan’s national security staff sought to continue the funding. In 1985 National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane persuaded Reagan to sell arms to Iran in hopes that Iran would help obtain the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon. This violated a U.S. arms embargo. Members of the National Security Council staff then secretly diverted the money from the sale of arms to Iran to the Contras in Nicaragua. The Iran-Contra Affair

9. Vice Admiral John Poindexter and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North carried out the plan to divert arms sale money to the Contras. When the Iran-Contra affair came to light, Congress wanted to know if anyone higher up was involved. Reagan admitted authorizing the sale of arms to Iran but denied knowing that the money was then diverted to the Contras. Full details of the affair are not known because the administration engaged in a cover-up of their actions. North admitted destroying key documents. High-level Reagan staff members lied in testimony to Congress and withheld evidence. North was convicted of destroying documents and perjury. His conviction was overturned on technicalities. The Iran-Contra Affair

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