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Reagan and Gorbachev


             Armed with nuclear weapons, the United States and the Soviet Union confronted each other constantly. Each side felt it should have enough nuclear firepower to deter the other side from starting the third World War. Because of the enormous nuclear threat, neither side wanted to start one. The doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) was born. Reagan believed MAD was indeed a true concept but he believed that there had to be a better way to exist and went about finding it. .
             While US policy toward the Soviet Union was not always consistent during the first Reagan administration, it did generally consist of highly negative, highly charged rhetoric against the Soviet's. During Reagan's first administration he was very preoccupied with reestablishing U.S. power throughout the World. He had a great desire to prevail in military terms. Reagan was very sceptical of containment policy and Detente. Former administrations believed that the Cold War was a never-ending stale mate where both superpowers would continue to develop weapons and where MAD was the only viable theory. Reagan believed that former administrations had been weak in their position against the Soviet Union and as opposed to them he was ready to take a much harder approach to communism. Reagan regarded the Cold War as winnable. .
             During Reagan's first term as president He tried to balance two competing messages. He wanted the US to rearm to counter the Soviet threat while at the same time projecting it's peaceful intent along with it's military might. Reagan believed that direct military, economic and political pressure against communist governments, would strain the Soviet Union's economic system to a point where they could no longer compete with the United States.
             Reagan was a strident anti-communist most of his adult life. Reagan was very distrustful of the Soviets in general and of arms control agreements. Reagan was specifically reluctant to negotiate treaties with the Soviet leaders on the basis of distrust.


Essays Related to Reagan and Gorbachev

1. The Politics of Ronald Reagan

Many critics saw Reagan's military tactics as illegitimate and dishonest. ... Mikhail Gorbachev came into power determined to change Soviet society by introducing a series of political and economic reforms. In determination to avoid an expensive arms race and allow economic growth to take place, Gorbachev declared a suspension, or delay, on deployment of medium range missiles in Europe and asked the United States to do the same. The result of these growths was a series of four Reagan-Gorbachev summits, which concluded in the first U.S. and Soviet treaty to reduce the number of nuclear we...

  • Word Count: 2371
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Reagan and the Cold War

After reelection in 1984, Reagan started communicating with the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. ... When Reagan and Gorbachev met in Iceland, an agreement to wipe out an entire class of weapons was approved. ... At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the President stated flat out to Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall- (History). ... One month later, Bush and Gorbachev "issued a joint message declaring an end to the Cold War- (Schaller, 521). ... Finally, in December of 1991, Gorbachev resigns and the Soviet Union collapses, ending communism. ...

  • Word Count: 1468
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3. the fall of Gorbachev

Gorbachev inherited by his predecessors a stagnant economy and a "well fed" bureaucracy. ... With these policies, Gorbachev planned to modernize Russia. ... On 1 December 1989, Gorbachev became the first Soviet leader to set foot in the Vatican. ... In December 1987, he signed with Ronald Reagan a treaty at the Washington Summit to eliminate intermediate nuclear missiles. ... The hard-liners, who included many top government officials, staged a coup in August, placing Gorbachev under house arrest, but within three days the reformers had restored Gorbachev to power. ...

  • Word Count: 1341
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Biography of Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States. ... Reagan studied sociology and economics. ... In 1966 Reagan's political career began. ... During the Cold War, Reagan took office. ... In his second term in office, Reagan smoothed over diplomatic relation with the Soviet Union with their newly elected president Gorbachev. ...

  • Word Count: 700
  • Approx Pages: 3
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5. collaspse of the soviet union

Mikhail Gorbachev and Reform Mikail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. Gorbachev was a new style of Soviet leader. ... Ronald Reagan, President of the USA 1981-1989, shared Mrs Thatcher's enthusiasm for economic rationalism. Reagan's criticism of the Soviet Union and his support of the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) is often credited with pushing Gorbachev towards reform. Reagan's ...

  • Word Count: 1987
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Cold War & American Defense Spending

In his book, How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, Dinesh D'Souza pronounces Reagan the clear winner due to his hard line stance on foreign policy towards the USSR. ... The collapse of the Russian economy and the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev were the primary reasons that lead to end of the Cold War. ... Soviet defense spending under Brezhnev and later, Gorbachev, was primarily a response to internal political imperatives. ... Their next leader would be Mikhail Gorbachev. ... Mikhail Gorbachev came to office in 1985 and with him came his program of "Perestroika."" ...

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7. The Collapse of the Soviet Union

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the leader of USSR. ... The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a part of Reagan's 'peace through strength' effort. ... Though it was proved that Reagan himself was a nuclear abolitionist, and once described the race as 'like two cowboys in a frontier saloon aiming their guns at each other's head-permanently', Reagan found that intensify the tension of the arm race could force government to invest massively in technology and thus paid less attention to developing the country (Lazzari). ... By 1984, Reagan's plan ...

  • Word Count: 1863
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. The Cold War

Reagan wanted to disprove that theory. ... Andropov stayed the course, and also wrote a blistering letter to Reagan about his policies. Oddly enough, he died days later after Reagan received this letter. ... Then came Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev was different from his many recent predecessors: while he was a Communis...

  • Word Count: 3069
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9. Ronald Regan A Man in his Time

Ronald Reagan may just have been one of the best presidents we had in the late 1900's. ... Ronald Reagan acted in fifty-two movies. ... One campaign promise Reagan kept was to clean up the mess at Berkeley. ... Reagan charged that President Carter failed to deal with inflation and unemployment. ... President Cater argued that Reagan's plan would lead to still more inflation and he questioned whether Reagan could balance the budget, reduce taxes, and increase defense spending all at the same time. ...

  • Word Count: 3536
  • Approx Pages: 14
  • Grade Level: High School

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