The Failure Of US Foreign Policy During The Vietnam War

President Ronald Reagan, originally an American actor and politician, became the 40th president of United States serving from the year 1981 to 1989. President Ronald Reagan term saw a restoration of prosperity at home, with the goal of achieving “peace through strength” abroad. At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign of 1980 “the great confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism”. During Ronald early times in office when he fired thousands of striking air traffic controllers who refused
S foreign policy after world war II. The struggle between liberal democracy, led by the U.S and totalitarian communism, primary represented by the Soviet Union, was called the Cold War. To challenge each other’s influence, both the United States and the Soviet Union built up their militaries and arms stockpiles extended them to their respective allies during this period. Convinced that the previous weakened U.S military forces only invited Soviet expansionism around the globe, Ronald Reagan promoted strengthening the U.S military through increased defense spending as one of the major themes of his 1980 presidential campaign. Military spending had been declining since the end of the Vietnam War-resulting in shortages of military parts and equipment and had begun increasing at the end of President Carter’s administration. Furthermore, president Reagan and his advisors believed that because the Soviets were outspending the United States in military weapons procured, a potentially dangerous imbalance of power could
He predicted that communism would be left “on the ash heap of history “He referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil power”. This dramatic statement and President Reagan’s policies towards the Soviet Union generated a great deal of controversy. Some saw his words as an important reassertion of American resolve. Others worried that they needlessly antagonized the Soviets and increased the risk of war (Ralph 2004). To alleviate these concerns, the presidents spoke of his program as “peace through strength”. Early in president Reagan’s second term, a reform-minded leader, Mikhael Gorbachev, assumed power in the Soviet Union. Like previous presidents, Ronald Reagan made plans to meet the new Soviet leader. During his presidency Reagan met with the secretary general Gorbachev on five occasions from 1985 to 1988.The two leaders developed a personal relationship and worked together to reduce the tension of the Cold