THE SOVIET POLICY

THE POLICY:

Ronald Reagan had the unique experience of being in office with four different Soviet premiers: Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev. Because of these rapid changes in Soviet leadership, Reagan's views and policies towards the Soviet Union evolved over time. The Soviet Union went from what he described as the "Evil Empire" to a country with which he held four summits in four years and even visited after he left office. Reagan decided that to deal with the Soviets, one had to deal from a position of strength. He therefore sought out policies at the beginning of his term that would increase U.S. military strength to be more equal to Soviet strength, and then begin negotiating. His policy also led to clashes in various locations in the world, as the President was determined to stop the spread of Communism.


This editorial argues that the Reagan administration failed to keep up the fight against Communism after the ties strengthened between Reagan and Gorbachev. The main example cited in the editorial is the perceived change in policy towards communism. The Union Leader quotes Reagan as saying "I'm blaming bureaucracy(not Communism). We have the same type of thing happen in our country." The editorial closes by asserting that the Soviet Premier has brainwashed the President into thinking that "the evil empire has ended its treachery and is trying to be one of the good guys, and facts to the contrary will not sway him."

National Review July 8, 1988 "So Long, Evil Empire" By William F. Buckley

The opinion stated by Mr. Buckley in this column agrees with much of the Union Leader's readings on Reagan's policy towards the Soviet Union. Because the President has become enamored with Gorbachev, he seems to have forgotten the atrocities being committed with support of the Kremlin. Buckley cites problems in Nicaragua, Cuba, Bulgaria, Poland, and Ethiopia as countries where democratic movements have been stamped out by Marxist dictatorships. Buckley argues "The Soviet Union has a very long way to go before brings reasonable freedom to those who live under it...Mikhail Gorbachev may be the spokesman for what is being attempted within the Soviet Union, but Andrei Gromyko continues as president of what continues to be an evil empire."

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists January/February 1989 "The Pacification of Ronald Reagan" By Gail W. Lapidus and Alexander Dallin

The article by Lapidus and Dallin while not denouncing the "pacification" of the President, does point out the changes in his policy and the causes of those changes. Many of the changes do not arise as the result of deliberation in the administration. Rather, most of them come about because of external factors unrelated to Reagan policy deliberation. Because of this, the credit given Reagan for his handling of the Soviet Union is somewhat misleading, according to the authors.

The article feels that most of the changes are due to the political upheaval which began in 1985 with the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev to the Position of Premier. The reforms made by Mr. Gorbachev were significant enough to make Mr. Reagan to soften and abandon some of its initial policies. The article argues that the President used "economic policy, political warfare, the human rights issue, and intervention by proxy in Third World conflicts" to delegitimize and destabilize the Soviet system. This all changed with Gorbachev in power. Reagan then had to change policies ranging from arms control to human rights to international contacts to appease Gorbachev.

Commentary
"U.S.-Soviet Relations By Condoleeza Rice

The journal article written by Ms. Rice argues that President Reagan was ultimately successful in his approach to dealing with the Soviet Union on several fronts. One method is known as the Reagan Doctrine, ending the policies of detente, and nuclear arms talks. He achieved these goals in different ways, and was helped by situations internal to the Soviet Union, but ultimately he did not far from his original goals.

The Reagan Doctrine, according to Ms. Rice, was to oppose Soviet aggression in all areas of the Third World. Reagan sent assistance to areas such as Nicaragua and Angola, but was most successful in Afghanistan, a neighboring country to the Soviet Union which was invaded under Brezhnev's tenure. Reagan ended the grain embargo to the Soviet Union established by the Carter administration because it was hurting American farmers. Reagan eventually sent anti-aircraft missiles to the Afghan freedom fighters and immobilized the effectiveness of the Soviet air attack. Rice's only attack on the Reagan Doctrine is that it "globalizes and bilateralizes conflicts whose dynamics are complicated by regional and indigenous politics."

President Reagan learned much from the ten years of "detente" which preceded his election, according to Ms. Rice. Much of what he learned was not good for the United States. Reagan felt that the Soviet Union took advantage of America's desire for cooperation and in turn received nothing. In addition, the Soviets did not share in the belief of "Mutually Assured Destruction," and thought instead that they could win a nuclear offensive. The President used the behavior of Soviet interests in Angola, Cuba, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan to show their aggression. Reagan attacked existing US policy towards the Soviets in that the Soviet Union was globally successful without US challenge, that the arms control agreements were frauds, and the while the Soviet Union was aggressive, the US was paralyzed with fears of nuclear war and not prepared to rebuild its army. Detente needed to be ended, and The Soviets needed to be met with force.

Arms Control talks were broken off in 1981 with the election of Reagan. This angered many Americans, and the President was forced to offer arms proposals to the Soviets late in 1981. The proposals did not get far with Brezhnev, and arms talks remained on hold until 1983. In December 1983 the Soviets walked out of INF talks. Also in 1983, Rice sees an important turning point. Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative to end the arms race by rendering them useless. There were fears that this proposal would backfire, but eventually it became a useful bargaining tool with Mr. Gorbachev.

The rise of Gorbachev signaled a great change in the fate of the President's arms limits proposals in the mind of Rice. She argues that because Gorbachev was the first Soviet leader to admit that the Soviet Union could not continue to spend such great amounts on defense, and that arms talks were necessary. Because of recognizing the need for limitations, Gorbachev had to come to President Reagan. This made Reagan's plan successful because the current talks resemble what Reagan proposed in 1981. The rules limiting numbers of warheads on launchers, and not the launchers themselves help the United States because of the advantage we have in bombers. Reagan was successful in Rice's eyes of bringing the advantage back to the United States and for focusing future talks on reductions, not just limitations.

Crossfire homepage

Foreign Policy Page

Central America Page