2. The Actions of Ronald Reagan
Learning Objectives 1. To develop a k&u of the aims and actions of Reagan. 2. To assess the Strategic Defensive Initiative.

* Reagan’s anti-communist rhetoric heralded the Second Cold War which saw a deliberate attempt to undermine the forces of communism. * Reagan’s actions/policies were described as a militarised counter-revolution. They were much more aggressive than those of Carter including extensive re-arming and providing convert help to those fighting against communist forces or governments.

Action | Aim | Key Features | 1. Increasing Nuclear Arms | * Regain American military supremacy * Cripple the USSR financially – to compete they would face bankruptcy * Supremacy in arms would therefore grant the USA strength in all areas & force the Soviet leadership to make concessions | * An unprecedented increase in military spending – defence spending was increased by 13% in 1982 and over 8% in each of the following two years * New methods of deploying nuclear missiles developed e.g. Stealth bomber & Trident submarines * Strategic Defense Initiative – SDI – or ‘Star Wars’ est. 1983. The deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems in space |

Source A – The SDI Concept

Online Explanation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B62n953nQ4o

* Advantages of SDI… * Disadvantages of SDI…

Source A
David Painter, The Cold War: An International History, 1999

SDI was a technologically ambitious and extremely expensive plan to develop a nationwide ballistic-missile defense system that would deploy weapons in outer space to destroy enemy missiles in flight. Popularly known as Star Wars, SDI threatened to violate several US-Soviet agreements, including the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, and the ABM Treaty of 1972…

Many analysts regarded SDI as a dangerous and destabilising attack on mutual deterrence, which was based on each side’s ability to retaliate against a nuclear attack… [They] also warned that SD would accelerate the arms race.

In addition to re-establishing US military superiority, which they believed had been lost during Détente, and regaining the initiative in the Cold War, Reagan and some of his supporters later claimed that they planned to use an arms race, especially in fields where the United States was technologically superior, to place great strain on the Soviet economy. Although the US build-up, and especially SDI, alarmed the Soviets, there is no evidence that Soviet defense spending, which had begun to level off in the mid-1970s, increased significantly in response to Reagan’s initiatives.

Source A
David Painter, The Cold War: An International History, 1999

SDI was a technologically ambitious and extremely expensive plan to develop a nationwide ballistic-missile defense system that would deploy weapons in outer space to destroy enemy missiles in flight. Popularly known as Star Wars, SDI threatened to violate several US-Soviet agreements, including the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, and the ABM Treaty of 1972…

Many analysts regarded SDI as a dangerous and destabilising attack on mutual deterrence, which was based on each side’s ability to retaliate against a nuclear attack… [They] also warned that SD would accelerate the arms race.

In addition to re-establishing US military superiority, which they believed had been lost during Détente, and regaining the initiative in the Cold War, Reagan and some of his supporters later claimed that they planned to use an arms race, especially in fields where the United States was technologically superior, to place great strain on the Soviet economy. Although the US build-up, and especially SDI, alarmed the Soviets, there is no evidence that Soviet defense spending, which had begun to level off in the mid-1970s, increased significantly in response to Reagan’s initiatives.

Directed Study
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcUwoK9WouE