The Political Climate of the 1980s

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how the 1980s ushered in a new era of politics, with President Ronald Reagan at the reins. The paper reveals that Reagan is credited with helping to speed the end of the Cold War by challenging the Soviets on several other fronts and siding with the dissident movement in Poland. The paper relates that less than a year after Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War essentially ended in 1991. The paper looks at reasons for the swift collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

From the Paper:

"Reagan is credited with helping to speed the end of the Cold War, which had preoccupied both nations for over forty years, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, and had resulted in the building of some of the most destructive weapons in history (Hoffman 2004). During the late 1970's and early 1980's, the United States underwent a revolution in technology that left the Soviets behind in the arms race. David E. Hoffman wrote in the June 06, 2004 issue of The Washington Post that the Soviet system was under pressure from "Reagan's defense buildup and deployment of medium-range missiles in Europe, the CIA-backed mujaheddin fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan and Reagan's proposed missile defense system, the Strategic Defense Initiative" (Hoffman 2004)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hoffman, David E. (2004 June 06). Global Legacy: Hastening an End to the Cold War.The Washington Post. Pp. A01. Retrieved December 27 2006 from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19040-2004Jun5.html
• Somin, Ilya. (1994 September 22). Riddles, mysteries, and enigmas: unanswered questions of communism's collapse. Policy Review. Retrieved December 27 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Williamson, David. (2003 December 01). Berlin: the flash-point of the Cold War, 1948-1989: David Williamson explains why events in Berlin twice threatened to unleash a third world war. History Review. Retrieved December 27 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

More papers on The Political Climate of the 1980s:

• Analytical Essay # 140884 : "The Political Meaning of the Khodorkovsky Case"
• Essay # 137348 : "The Political Geography of the Northwest Passage."
• Analytical Essay # 56278 : "The Political Legacy of the French Revolution"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: