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Reagan Doctrine

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The Reagan Doctrine

Ronald Reagan is best known for his speech at the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall where he stated “Mister Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!” That was his challenge to the Soviet leader. Like presidents before him present Reagan had established a doctrine to eradicate the Soviet influence on the world. Ronald Reagan was not the first to propose a doctrine to fight the Soviet nation. In fact, he was just following in the footsteps of his predecessors. The Reagan doctrine was similar to of Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon and Carter in that they all wanted containment of the Soviet Union, but were as they used a more defensive method Reagan deployed a more Offensive style to dealing communist-controlled countries.
Reagan laid out his interpretation of his doctrine at his State of the Union Address on February 6, 1985. "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth . . . Support for freedom fighters is self-defense." He went on to explain how he thought that Truman’s version of containment, originally designed to halt Stalin in Europe was now obsolete. President Reagan’s doctrine facilitated the use of US involvement in places like Angola where the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) fought against the Soviet and Cuban backed Angolan government. US involvement was also present in Afghanistan when in December 1979 the USSR invaded. At the request of the Afghan Government the Soviet army crossed Afghan’s northern borders to assist the pro-communisis Afghan government in defeating the anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas (mujahidin). Another publicized involvement was with the assistance of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

When the American military forces left Nicaragua for

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