Aim: What foreign policy changes were made during the administration of Ronald Reagan?

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Aim What foreign policy changes were made during
the administration of Ronald Reagan?
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3. Foreign Policy in the Eastern Hemisphere

• President Reagan believed that, during the late
  1970s, the United States had fallen behind the
  Soviet Union in military power.
• With the hostage crisis in Iran, Reagan felt that
  the United States was seen as weak and that other
  nations no longer viewed the United States as a
  strong nation.
• As President, Reagan took a stronger stance on
  foreign policy, especially in the Eastern
  Hemisphere.

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3.1 The Reagan Approach

• Reagans approach to foreign policy dealt less
  with human rights (Jimmy Carters plan) and more
  with fighting terrorism-the use of fear to gain
  power.
• Reagan believed that any future acts of terrorism
  would be met swiftly and strongly.
• To show his seriousness, Reagan appointed
  Alexander Haig to the job of Secretary of State.
• Haig believed that the Soviet Union was involved
  in aiding terrorism in Afghanistan, Africa and
  Indochina.

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Alexander Haig
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• Fighting communism was also part of Ronald
  Reagans approach.
• Reagan believed that the United States must deal
  with the Soviet Union from a strong military
  position.
• Although tough on communism, Reagan did make some
  concessions to the Soviet Union. He lifted the
  ban on grain exports and in September 1981,
  Alexander Haig met with his Soviet counterpart,
  Andrei Gromyko to improve relations between the
  two nations.

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Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev
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Reagan Speaking at the Berlin Wall
President Gorbachevtear down this wall!!!
Ronald Reagan
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3.2 Arms Program

• In October 1981, to make national defense
  stronger, Reagan announced a program that would
  run six-years and cost 180 billion dollars.
• The program called for the building of MX
  missiles, development of B-1 bombers and a new
  Stealth bomber.
• It also called for the building of giant Trident
  nuclear-powered submarines and the strengthening
  of defense communications.
• The Secretary of Defense, Casper Weinberger said
  that the aim was to prevent nuclear war. By doing
  this, the United States would prevent any other
  nation from threatening or defeating us.

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Secretary of Defense-Casper Weinberger
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MX Missiles
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The B1 Bomber
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B2 Stealth Bomber
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Trident Nuclear Submarines
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Arms Build-Up in Western Europe

• About the same time, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
  Organization) announced an arms build-up in
  Western Europe.
• NATO planned to deploy-place in appropriate
  arrangement, over 100 missiles in Western Europe.
• NATO announced this was being done to counter the
  build up of Soviet missiles in Eastern Europe.
• Anti-nuclear groups began holding demonstrations
  to stop this from happening.

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European Alliances (1981)
The nations in blue were members of NATO and
the allies of the United States. The nations
in red were members of the Warsaw Pact and the
allies of the Soviet Union. Reagan was
planning to deploy nuclear weapons in Western
Europe.
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• However, in November 1981, President Reagan
  called upon the Soviet Union to remove its
  missiles aimed at Western Europe.
• In return, the United States promised not to
  deploy and give its missiles over to NATO.
• Although the Soviets were against the plan, the
  Soviets were willing to speak with the United
  States on this issue.

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START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks)

• In June 1982, Strategic Arms Reduction Talks
  between the United States and the Soviet Union
  were held in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The goals of these talks were to reduce both the
  numbers and destructive potential of nuclear
  weapons.
• Although nuclear protests continued around
  Europe, two nations supported the plans of Reagan
  and NATO-England and West Germany, who re-elected
  conservative, NATO-friendly leaders back into
  power.

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Margaret Thatcher-Prime Minister of Great Britain
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Helmut Kohl-Prime Minister of West Germany
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• On September 1, 1983, an event took away the
  criticism that was directed at NATO.
• On this day, the Soviet Union shot down a South
  Korean Airplane that was flying over Soviet
  territory. The Soviets did not realize that the
  airplane was a commercial passenger airline.
• Reagan called the event a horrifying act of
  violence and demanded an apology.
• Although the START talks continued, no settlement
  was reached and the United States continued to
  deploy its missiles in Western Europe.

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Korean Airline Flight 007
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3.3 Advances in the Space Program

• As part of the defense build-up, President Reagan
  also called for advancing our nations space
  program.
• In the spring of 1981, the space shuttle
  Columbia, the first reusable spacecraft, lifted
  off from Cape Canaveral and successfully orbited
  the Earth.
• After 36 hours and 54 orbits around the Earth,
  the ship landed in California.

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Space Shuttle Columbia
The Space Shuttle Columbia was launched in 1981.
STS-1 was flown by John Young and Robert Crippen.
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Space Missions

• In the following years, several successful
  missions were flown by the Columbia and its
  sister ships, Challenger and Discovery.
• In June 1983, Challenger carried Sally Ride, the
  first woman astronaut.
• In August, Challenger astronaut Guion Buford
  became the first African American in space.
• In February 1984, two astronauts, Bruce
  McCandless and Robert Stewart flew free of the
  Challenger wearing jet-propelled backpacks.

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Space Shuttle Challenger
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Space Shuttle Discovery
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Sally Ride
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Guion Bluford
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Defense System in Space

• President Reagan also called for a defense system
  in space.
• Using laser or directed-energy beams, weapons
  based in space would stop enemy missiles before
  they could launch their warheads.
• Those who were against the plan, which they
  called star wars, said the system was
  impossible to build.

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3.4 Tension in Poland

• In 1981, Americans became worried over tensions
  in Poland.
• Strikes and boycotts in Poland had forced
  Polands communist government to pass some reform
  measures. This did not stop or end the problems.
• In December, the Polish government declared
  martial law-law carried out by the military when
  civilian law forces are not able to keep public
  order or safety.

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• The government also outlawed public gatherings
  and strikes.
• The government arrested Lech Walesa, the leader
  of the independent labor movement Solidarity and
  some of its members.
• Solidarity was the first labor union in the
  Soviet-bloc that was not controlled by the
  government.

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The Problems in Poland
Lech Walesa
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• President Reagan moved quickly to handle the
  crisis.
• He cut off 25,000,000 of credit to Poland.
• He refused to allow Polish National Airlines to
  land in the United States.
• He refused to allow Polish fishing boats in
  American waters.

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• In December 1982, the Polish government set free
  a number of the Solidarity leaders from prison
  and eased up the restrictions.
• In July 1983, the Polish government ended martial
  law while taking on special powers to control the
  economy and politics of Poland.
• Reagan, in return, lifted the sanctions he placed
  on the Poles. He kept others until the rights of
  the Polish people were restored.

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3.5 The Pipeline Controversy

• In the summer of 1982, President Reagan was angry
  when he learned that American, British, French
  and Italian companies were providing supplies for
  a Soviet project-the building of a 3,000 mile
  pipeline to carry natural gas from Siberia to
  Western Europe.
• Reagan thought it was wrong for any western
  company to help build a Soviet pipeline.
• He did not like the fact this project would give
  10,000,000,000 dollars of western money to the
  Soviet Union.
• He also did not like the fact it would make the
  United States allies dependent on Soviet oil.
• Reagan banned the sale of American supplies to
  the project. This was criticized by our allies
  and in December, Reagan lifted the ban.

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3.6 The Lebanon Crisis

• Although the Camp David Accords brought normal
  relations between Egypt and Israel, there was no
  real peace in the Middle East.
• This was due to the fact that other Arab
  countries continued to deny Israels right to
  exist and many also resented the United States
  support of Israel.
• Many Arabs used violence against what they saw as
  foreign interference.

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Fighting Begins

• Fighting began in the Middle East in June 1982,
  when Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon to crush
  the strongholds of the Palestine Liberation
  Organization (PLO).
• The PLO used its Lebanese bases to launch
  frequent attacks on settlements in northern
  Israel.

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Israel and Lebanon
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Leader of the PLO-Yasir Arafat
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• Moving through southern Lebanon, the Israeli
  forces reached the capital city of Beirut.
• The Israeli forces set siege to the western part
  of the city, where most of the PLO were. For ten
  weeks, West Beirut was under air and rocket
  attack as Israel demanded Arafat and other
  members of the PLO to surrender.

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Cease-Fire Plans

• Meanwhile, as the fighting continued, President
  Reagan sent Philip Habib to the Middle East to
  help arrange for a cease-fire.
• In late August, an agreement was reached in which
  the PLO fighters were allowed to leave West
  Beirut safely.
• Their departure was supervised by a small
  peace-keeping force made up of French, Italian
  and American soldiers.

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• With a break in the fighting in Lebanon,
  President Reagan put forth a plan to ease the
  Arab-Israeli tensions.
• Reagan called for a Palestinian homeland, a halt
  to Israeli building in the West Bank and the Gaza
  Strip and the withdrawal of troops from Lebanon.
• The plan made no headway, however.

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Philip Habib
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Increased Terrorism

• In 1983, terrorism increased in the Middle East.
• In April, the American Embassy in Beirut was
  bombed, causing the death of 63 people.
• In October, a truck loaded with explosives
  crashed into the marine barracks at the Beirut
  airport, killing 241. Soon after, a bomb exploded
  at the French barracks.
• Then an attack on the Israeli military
  headquarters killed 28.

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The Attack on the Marine Barracks (October 1983)
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• These acts added to the controversy in the United
  States over the peace-keeping forces in Lebanon.
• Many Americans disagreed with Reagans claim that
  they helped stabilize the Lebanese government.
• In February 1984, Reagan ordered more Marines in
  Lebanon but another bomb was detonated in
  September.