The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy
The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy
Ryan Butler
Darryl Nettles
POL300
02 September 2012
Summarize a situation that required U.S. diplomatic efforts during President Reagan’s time in office. The situation that required U.S. diplomatic involvement was the Reagan Doctrine. In the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan advocated the elimination of all assistance to the Nicaraguan government. As a candidate, he ran on a platform that condemned the "Marxist Sandinista takeover of Nicaragua" and pledged support for the "efforts of the Nicaraguan people to establish a free and independent government. Once Reagan took over the Presidency, high-ranking policy makers suspended and then canceled economic aid to Nicaragua. The administration began to formulate more coercive measures. President Ronald Reagan took office determined to do something about what he considered a growing tide of Soviet expansionism. To do so, his administration developed a strategy to aid anti-Soviet insurgencies in the Third World in their attempts to overthrow Marxist regimes (Alan Riding, 1980). In February 1981, when Robert McFarlane (then assistant to Secretary of State Alexander Haig) submitted a proposal for a coordinated political, economic, military, and covert approach to the Central American crisis (El Salvador and Nicaragua), the issue reached the White House.
Eventually labeled the Reagan Doctrine, the strategy had matured enough by 1985 for the president to assert that the United States "must not break faith with those who are risking their lives--on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua to defy Soviet supported aggression. In 1986 President Reagan declared, "America will support with moral and material assistance, your right not to fight and die for freedom, but to fight and win freedom in Afghanistan, in Angola, in Cambodia, and in Nicaragua. However, a conflict developed over the application of the Reagan Doctrine to Nicaragua, where rebels known as the contras opposed the
Ryan Butler
Darryl Nettles
POL300
02 September 2012
Summarize a situation that required U.S. diplomatic efforts during President Reagan’s time in office. The situation that required U.S. diplomatic involvement was the Reagan Doctrine. In the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan advocated the elimination of all assistance to the Nicaraguan government. As a candidate, he ran on a platform that condemned the "Marxist Sandinista takeover of Nicaragua" and pledged support for the "efforts of the Nicaraguan people to establish a free and independent government. Once Reagan took over the Presidency, high-ranking policy makers suspended and then canceled economic aid to Nicaragua. The administration began to formulate more coercive measures. President Ronald Reagan took office determined to do something about what he considered a growing tide of Soviet expansionism. To do so, his administration developed a strategy to aid anti-Soviet insurgencies in the Third World in their attempts to overthrow Marxist regimes (Alan Riding, 1980). In February 1981, when Robert McFarlane (then assistant to Secretary of State Alexander Haig) submitted a proposal for a coordinated political, economic, military, and covert approach to the Central American crisis (El Salvador and Nicaragua), the issue reached the White House.
Eventually labeled the Reagan Doctrine, the strategy had matured enough by 1985 for the president to assert that the United States "must not break faith with those who are risking their lives--on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua to defy Soviet supported aggression. In 1986 President Reagan declared, "America will support with moral and material assistance, your right not to fight and die for freedom, but to fight and win freedom in Afghanistan, in Angola, in Cambodia, and in Nicaragua. However, a conflict developed over the application of the Reagan Doctrine to Nicaragua, where rebels known as the contras opposed the
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