Ronald Reagan's Foreign Policies

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look ex-President Ronald Reagan's views and contributions to the U.S foreign policies such as the eventual fall of the Soviet Union and the funding of rebels in Afghanistan. The author discusses how the political stand that Reagan took affected America, positively as well as negatively. The author describes Reagan's foreign policy as aggressive especially toward any kind of communist hostility and speculates that this might have stemmed from his experience from World War II. Although Reagan supported insurgent groups such as the freedom fighters in Afghanistan and Iran, who later became a threat to the United States, the paper concedes that Reagan's policies certainly had an effect on the Soviet Union and the world.

From the Paper:

"The first test of this more aggressive stance against communism came in 1983 when U.S. forces invaded the island nation of Grenada, off the coast of South America in the Caribbean. The official reason for the attack was the safety of American medical students attending a university on the island, after a coup d'etat took place. The coup's leader sympathized with communist and Cuban leadership, and the administration felt they were a threat to the entire region, so the U.S. attacked. The U.S. was victorious, and withdrew after about two months of occupation, and the world knew the United States would not tolerate communism's advance of any sort during the Reagan administration."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Editors. "Foreign Affairs: Ronald Reagan, 40th President." PBS.org. 2003. 25 April 2008. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/40_reagan/reagan_foreign.html>
• Kane, John. "American Values or Human Rights? U.S. Foreign Policy and the Fractured Myth of Virtuous Power." Presidential Studies Quarterly 33.4 (2003): 772+.
• Scott, James M. The Reagan Doctrine and American Foreign Policy The Reagan Doctrine and American Foreign Policy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996.

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• Essay # 51809 : "Ronald Reagan's Government"
• Persuasive Essay # 60349 : "Reagan's Foreign Policy, and the Soviet Union"
• Comparison Essay # 107525 : "Carter vs. Reagan"

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