Presidents and their Doctrines (Ronald Reagan)

Presidents and their Doctrines (Ronald Reagan)

Introduction

The Reagan Doctrine formed by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan was in force since the 1980s till the Soviet Union fall in 1991 (Johnson, 2003). It was a drastic change in policy shifting from undemanding containment to further direct backing to those fighting in opposition to the communist governments (Johnson, 2003). Indeed, the objective of the doctrine was to offer financial and military support to guerilla forces like the Contras in Nicaragua. Illegitimate contribution and participation in these activities by some administration officials brought about the Iran-Contra Scandal (Shimko, 1991). Nevertheless, many together with Margaret Thatcher praise the Reagan Doctrine with helping cause the Soviet Union fall.

Discussion

Summarize a situation that required US diplomatic efforts during President Ronald Reagan's time in office (1981-1989). The doctrine is: Sponsored anticommunist guerrillas who were trying to overthrow pro-Soviet regimes.

Ronald Reagan, who had very strong anticommunist opinions, was elected as the President of the United States of America in the year 1980 (Lagon, 1994). In his address at the State of the Union in 1985, President Reagan asserted his intense anticommunist standpoint when he invited the American people and the Congress to face up to the Soviet Union, which he termed as the “Evil Empire” (Lagon, 1994). Thus, in 1983, the Reagan government had articulated a move in U.S. policy in a chain of national security commands (Lagon, 1994), which recognized returning Soviet expansionism as an essential precedence of U.S. foreign policy.

In a policy split from the containment doctrine created by President Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan wanted to return what he named Soviet violence and aggression on each and every continent. Founded on the Roll Back policy progressed by John Foster Dulles (the Secretary of State) in the 1950s (Scott, 1996), the doctrine sought dynamically to lessen Soviet Union's influence beyond its borders and this doctrine is recognized as the Reagan Doctrine.

Reagan disagreed from Dulles in that the president depended first and foremost on overt material backup of anticommunist insurgents trying to throw out Soviet-backed governments (Scott, 1996). The Reagan administration required to reconstruct the trustworthiness and integrity of the U.S. commitment to oppose Soviet infringement on the interests of the USA and its allies and backup third-world states (Scott, 1996) ready to oppose or resist Soviet initiatives unreceptive to those interests.

Explicate the diplomatic doctrine the president followed with reference to specific actions or events that occurred.

President Ronald Reagan initiated his presidency by harshly criticizing the Soviet Union and insisting on a military upsurge. In a press conference he proposed that the Soviets would cheat, lie or commit any offense to promote their agenda (Shimko, 1991). Moreover, he termed the Soviet Union as the hub of immorality in the contemporary world and also as an evil empire. Just after three weeks, in another television address, the president disclosed his plan to put up a missile defense proposal known as SDI or the Strategic Defense Initiative. However, by 1984 Reagan turned out to be more ...