Will+Berg

Research Question:

To what extent did Ronald Reagan help end the cold war?


 * A.) Plan of Investigation **

The question of this investigation is to what extent did Ronald Reagan effect the end of the cold war? By researching how Reagan acted during his tenure and his relationship with General secretary Gorbachev, it will create the ability to learn how much of an impact Reagan truly had during his tenure as president. The main source for this investigation will be the book __The Reagan Era__. Also, another source that will be very useful will be Ronald Reagan's speech telling Mr. Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall in West Berlin.


 * B.) Summary of Evidence **


 * Reagan's early action as president **

New nuclear weapons were developed such as the stealth bomber and trident.[i]

New Strategic Defense Initiative was announced in 1983, which was also known as star wars.[ii]

Extreme support of any anti- communist governments, always willing to aid them and fight against communism.

Also he used aggresive language by calling them the evil empire.[iii]


 * Reagan’s relationship with Gorbachev **

Geneva Summit: Reagan and Gorbachev agree that nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought[iv]

Created the INF treaty which was a treaty used to destroy land based missiles

Called Gorbachev out in his infamous speech in West Berlin preaching to him to Tear down the Berlin Wall.[v]

Moscow summit: more arms reduction and Reagan confessed he no longer believed in the "evil empire"

Above all, Reagan wanted to establish a relationship with his Soviet counterpart that would make it easier to manage conflicts lest they escalate to thermonuclear war—an imperative for every American president since Eisenhower.[vi]


 * Reaganomics **

Goal was to bring America back to its “ Glory days” on a path to prosperity, which had lagged with previous leaders[vii]

Was part of an economic battle to oppose the institution known as the “Evil Empire”.

Created star wars program, which created less of a threat on the United States and held the promise of putting the Soviets in a far more vulnerable position.

Made an atmosphere in the Soviet Union which made Mikhail Gorbachev argue with his own leadership for a stand down in all nuclear Weaponry.

Ronald Reagan had four main goals during his tenure as president for the economy.[viii]


 * Reduce income tax and capital gain
 * Reduce the growth of government spending
 * Reduce government regulation of economy
 * Control money supply to reduce money supply

Reagan significantly increased public expenditures, primarily the Department of Defense, which rose (in constant 2000 dollars) from $267.1 billion in 1980 (4.9% of GDP and 22.7% of public expenditure) to $393.1 billion in 1988 (5.8% of GDP and 27.3% of public expenditure.[ix]


 * Euromissile’s **

Distrust between western and Eastern countries cause extreme distrust.

Increasing the number of missiles in Europe while with plans to put even more in. [x]

Soviets shot down a Korean airliner because it wandered over soviet airspace.

Americans were killed in Lebanon by a suicide bomber

Reagan and Gorbachev announced a total nuclear disarment that was to be completed by 2000 [xi]

Also, all Euromissile’s would be eliminated by both side’s.


 * C.) Evaluation of Sources **

Ronald Reagan " Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin," Annals of American History.

This source is an excerpt from Ronald Reagan's Speech to West Germany in June of 1987. The speech from Ronald Reagan was directed towards General Secretary Gorbachev preaching to him to tear down the Berlin Wall. Also, the speech shows signs of an attempt to bring peace to the countries in Europe as well as in the United States. Two years later the wall was torn down. This source is very critical in showing the role Reagan played in the ending the cold war. However, an excerpt from the speech is missing.

Rodney P. Carlisle, Geoffrey Golson "Euromissiles," The Reagan Era

The Reagan Era was written by Rodney Carlisle, professor Emeritus of Rutgers University and former chair of the Rutgers history department, and Geoffrey Golson, who is the founder of Golson Media. The purpose of the book was to created to illustrate Reagan's time before, during, and after of his time in office. The book was helpful, because it was so specific for each section. The book went in to great depths of Reagan's financial policies. The book was most important, when needing to go over certain time periods, such as the euromissiles and the economics of the country. The soviets point of view is not shown in the book, however, the book does illustrate what could of happened if other things had happened.


 * D.) Analysis **

Ronald Reagan had a very strong role in the fall of the Berlin Wall, which in many eyes marks the end of the cold war. Many of Ronald Reagan's actions in office created an environment in the Soviet Union that made it unstable.

In the beginning of Ronald Reagan's term he started off by producing new nuclear weapons. He came in with a very offensive and aggressive tactic in order to induce fear into the Soviet Union. Weapons such as the trident and stealth bomber were created.[xii] The stealth bomber was able to fly over countries undetected, creating fear in the Soviet Union. Also, the star wars program was able to put more pressure on the Soviet Union, as well as creating less of a threat on the United States. Weapons like the extended range interceptor, which had the ability to hit other missiles in the air, helped lessen the threat on the United States. It was shown to work when FLAGE (name of a missile) had a direct hit against a MGM-52 Lance missile in flight at White Sands Missile Range in 1987.[xiii] The fear implemented by the new weapons on the Soviet Union would eventually lead to the meeting of Gorbachev and Reagan at the Geneva Summit. Both were able to agree that Nuclear War cannot be won and should be fought at all costs, which many see as a key turning point to the Cold war.

One of the most famous parts of Ronald Reagan’s tenure in office was his speech to West Germany exclaiming // "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! **Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'".[xiv]** //This would help put severe pressure on the Soviets to have a response. Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev had a very interesting relationship and played a key role in the fall of the Berlin Wall. A key part was when Reagan recognized that Gorbachev's goals, far from being traditional, were downright revolutionary. He also saw that the transformation Gorbachev had in mind for his country would, if it came about, serve American interest’s.[xv] They were forced to work together in order to prevent a nuclear war, while working with two different ideologies, one being communism, the other being democracy. They were able to agree that Nuclear war should not be fought and created treaties such as the Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces treaty, or INF. The treaty called for the destruction of land based missiles. Often times when the two would meet they would have arguments and would not be able to reach agreements. Reagan used tactics such as referring to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”[xvi]. However, Reagan was able to create tension in the Soviet Union through Gorbachev, because Gorbachev knew that nuclear war must not be fought creating extreme tension between him and the government. At the Moscow Summit, however, Reagan admitted that he no longer believed that there was an “evil empire”, which many saw as an attempt to reduce tension between the countries. Above all, Reagan wanted to establish a relationship with his Soviet counterpart that would make it easier to manage conflicts lest they escalate to thermonuclear war—an imperative for every American president since Eisenhower.[xvii]

Ronald Reagan had very defensive oriented economics plans also known as “Reaganomics”. He had four pillars to his economic plans all being reductions, Reduce the growth of government spending, reduce income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation of economy, and control money supply to reduce inflation.[xviii] Reagan significantly increased public expenditures, primarily the Department of Defense, which rose (in constant 2000 dollars) from $267.1 billion in 1980 (4.9% of GDP and 22.7% of public expenditure) to $393.1 billion in 1988 (5.8% of GDP and 27.3% of public expenditure.[xix] This directly impacted the Soviet Union. The increase of defensive measure taken by the United States, created the new weaponry discussed above. The more money that was being spent on the weapons created more fear in the Soviet Union. As for is original policies instituted by Reagan, it is said by William A. Niskanen one of the architects of Reaganomics, "Reagan delivered on each of his four major policy objectives, although not to the extent that he and his supporters had hoped"[xx].


 * E.) Conclusion **

Ronald Reagan played a very significant role in the end of the Cold War. By creating a very strong defensive based United States, while creating hostility within the Soviet Union, because of his Relationship Gorbachev, the Soviet Union collapsed. His economic plans played a key role in creating hostility within the Soviet Union, because of how much money was spent on defensive plans. Overall, Ronald Reagan played a role in the end of the Cold War, but was not the only factor that helped end the Cold War.

F.) Work Cited and Word Count Roberts, Priscilla. Reagan, Wilson Ronald. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, Inc, 2008.

Rodney P. Carlisle, Georffrey Golson "Euromissiles," The Reagan Era

Rogers, Keely. Thomas, Jo. "20th century world The Cold War" Pearson Baccalaureate.

Ronald Reagan " Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin," Annals of American History.

Talbott, Strobe. “ // Reagan and Gorbachev // : Shutting the Cold War Down” The New York Times.

Word Count (1815 words)

[i] Rodney P. Carlisle, Georffrey Golson "Euromissiles," The Reagan Era [ii] Rogers, Keely. Thomas, Jo. "20th century world The Cold War" Pearson Baccalaureate. [iii] Roberts, Priscilla. Reagan, Wilson Ronald. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, Inc, 2008. [iv] Rodney [v] Ronald Reagan " Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin," Annals of American History. [vi] Talbott, Strobe. “ // Reagan and Gorbachev // : Shutting the Cold War Down” The New York Times [vii] Rogers [viii] Roberts [ix] Rodney [x] Rodney [xi] Roberts [xii] Rodney [xiii] Talbott [xiv] Reagan [xv] Talbott [xvi] Reagan [xvii] Talbott [xviii] Rodney [xix] Roberts [xx] Talbott