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Reagan and Gorbachev

He believed that "no treaty was better than a bad treaty." Reagan believed that in the past the United States had always signed up for something that limited our own capability and left the Soviet's with their capability and at times even the right to expand their arms. Hence we have the problem of a "bad treaty" according to Reagan. Reagan was determined to free the world from nuclear threat and felt that bargaining from a position of power and strength would bring the Soviet's to the bargaining table. .
             Reagan believed that the United States lagged behind in the arms race against the Soviet Union. Because of this belief Reagan embarked upon extensive arms build up and an increase in the US Navy to a 600-ship capacity. Reagan supported many new military projects like the B-1 bomber, and the MX missile. During Reagan's first term defense spending increased by 40%. The build-up and modernization of the military also gave credibility to Ronald Reagan's desire to bargain from a position of strength. .
             In another one of Reagan's attempts to gain strength over the communists he announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). SDI was a revolutionary new defense program that had never before been seen. SDI was based on the idea that missiles could be intercepted in space knocked off of their course or destroyed, which would create an umbrella defense protecting US soil. SDI suggested that the United States could be defended without earthly sacrifice and bloodshed. SDI provided the nation with a feeling of security. This was the first time since the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 that the United States or the Soviet Union had actively taken steps to set up a defense against a nuclear attack. SDI also rushed the Soviet Union technologically, psychologically and economically; and gave the Reagan administration the upper hand in arms negotiations, setting an entirely new tone in American-Soviet relations.


Essays Related to Reagan and Gorbachev

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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...

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2. Reagan and the Cold War

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3. the fall of Gorbachev

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4. Biography of Ronald Reagan

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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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8. The Cold War

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9. Ronald Regan A Man in his Time

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