AT WHAT PRICE VICTORY
The Intra-Contra scandal was a political scandal that took place during the second term of Ronald Reagan. The involved government officials facilitated the sale of arms to Iran with the hope of releasing the American hostages held in Lebanon by a group of Hezbollah terrorists. Ronal Reagan was in support of the cause though what initially began as a strategic opening to Iran was reduced to a trade of arms for hostages. The hostages was eventually reduced and it was not until 1986 that the word had gotten out about the secret transactions.
The foreign policy of the Reagan administration resulted to The Soviet Union being brought down. Reagan depressed the value of Soviet commodities, hence intensifying economic pressure, he decreased soviet access to high technology and also diminished their resources. When Mikhail Gorbechev became leader, he reformed both political and economic factors, therefore easing the tension between the Soviet Union and the US. He agreed to withdraw most of the nuclear arsenals and troops to withdraw from Afghanistan and Reagan abandoned hi Strategic Defense Initiative plans. This reforms led to Soviet Union collapsing and disintegrated into individual states. This effectively ended the world war.
Advantages that US draws for Reagan’s policies, is that the Soviet Union went down and the cold war also ended. The US military was also reformed and there was a massive build up. During this time, Americans feared that the Strategic Defense Initiative would only lead to war and hence they rallied against it. Due to the military build-up, the US spent billions of dollars. The exorbitant amounts resulted to a large budget deficit for the US.
America can take pride in a good number of events during 1980s. The election of Ronal Reagan was a great step since it was the beginning of a new dawn, a new era for America. It was during this period that the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold war ended. The Berlin wall was also brought down. It can also take pride in the economic recovery after the great inflation in 1970s. The military was also strengthened and more military anti-communists were adopted. There was also the drug wars in 1982 when Reagan was into solving one of the most acute crimes of that time.
Ronal Reagan was a key personality in the 1980s, despite the many challenges he faced, it is only fair to recognize that his policies had a great positive impact to America. He kept his promise in sustaining America’s global prestige through the positive impacts he brought to his country.

Sources.
Spark Notes Editors. (2005). Spark Note on Ronald Reagan. Retrieved November 26, 2015, from http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/reagan/
Carleton, D., & Stohl, M. (1985). The foreign policy of human rights: Rhetoric and reality from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. Human Rights Quarterly, 205-229. Retrieved form http://www.jstor.org/stable/762080?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Adam B. Ulam, (1983) Dangerous Relations: The Soviet Union in World Politics, 1970–1982 (New York: Oxford University Press), pp. 83–144.