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The Reagan Era, Part II: 1984-
Week 9 - Reagan Era Part II Film: When the Wind Blows / MTV Music Videos
Terms: Able Archer ’83 Mikhail Gorbachev Protect and Survive Reykjavik Whitewashing Brandenburg Gate Boland Amendment Richard Perle Iran-Contra Mujahedin Stinger William Casey Oliver North Tiananmen Square
Questions to consider:
- What kinds of Pro-Disarmament popular protests occurred in the Reagan Era?
- Was there a “Reagan Reversal” with the Soviets or not?
- Why did the Cold War end & What role did SDI have in ending the Cold War (if any)?
Scorpions – Wind of Change
Ronald Reagan – The “Teflon President”
Able Archer ‘
The most dangerous misunderstanding of 1983
“Able Archer”: Military exercise scheduled for Nov. 2nd through Nov. 11th A practice exercise aimed at coordinating NATO for a nuclear weapons launch
Drill involves Reagan, German chancellor Kohl and British PM Thatcher;
KGB is trained to follow these movements;
Soviets are convinced that any first strike would begin by appearing to be routine; this only makes sense to them; they begin to prepare for a nuclear war themselves; unsure if this is a practice run or the real thing
-He is firmly convinced that Soviets are still aiming for global domination.
“[The Soviets] have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that, and that is moral, not immoral.”
Reagan’s Views of Communists
Leonid Brezhnev
1964 – Nov. 1982
Yuri Andropov Nov. 1982 – Feb. 1984
Konstantin Chernenko Feb. 1984 – March 1985
Reagan has difficulty establishing political relations with
Soviet General Secretaries
Reagan: “They kept dying on me.”
Mikhail Gorbachev
- Born 1931, son of a Russian Farmer
- Grew up in the shadow of Stalin and collectivization
- FAMINE is Gorbachev’s formative experience with communism;
- Becomes friends with Yuri Andropov;
- He is appointed to as Central Committee Secretary for Agriculture in 1978.
- Farms over Bombs
- Assumes General Secretary position in 1985; a new, youthful Soviet—not part of the “old guard”
Gorbachev establishes a new era of Soviet Leadership with
two notable reforms
Peristroika – “reconstruction”
A rethinking of economy of
Soviet state; time to re-
manage the state
Glastnost – Openness;
allowing more freedom of
speech
The STINGER Surface-to-Air Missile
The STINGER Surface-to-Air Missile is especially effective against Soviet Helicopters
- Mujahedin warriors kill or wound about 17,000 Soviet soldiers;
- By 1985, control 62% of the country side
- Soviets now need to quadruple their forces to try and fight them Soviets had lost 350-400 aircraft
- Lost 2,750 Soviet tanks
- Just under 8,000 trucks, jeeps and other vehicles
- War had cost the Soviets, at this point, $12 BILLION
- US has covertly only paid $200 million between 1980 and 1984
Communism in “Our Own Backyard”
The US supports the Counter-Revolutionaries, or
CONTRAS
The Boland Amendment
An amendment to the 1983 financial year Intelligence Authorization Bill:
- PROHIBITS THE USE OF U.S. FUNDS TO OVERTHROW THE SANDINISTA GOVERNMENT
- Restricts CIA covert ops in the region; no more arms;
On Dec. 8, 1982 House passes Boland Amendment 411-
BOLAND II prohibits military or paramilitary support for the Contras by the CIA, Defense, or “any other agency”
Representative EDWARD BOLAND
To circumvent the Boland Amendment, Reagan and then National Security Adviser John Poindexter enlist NSC staff officer Lieutenant Colonel OLIVER NORTH
Not an academic; not trained in foreign relations
Share’s Reagan’s belief that Contras are the moral equivalent of the founding fathers
Oliver North is the point man for NSC covert operations
OLIVER NORTH
U.S. hostages taken in Lebanon
Iran receives over 2,000 anti-tank missiles & spare parts for anti- aircraft missiles.
Only 3 Americans are released
1985 - Plan to divert profits from arm sales to Iran give $$$ to Contras
1986 - arms supplies to the Contras increases dramatically
A VIOLATION OF THE
BOLAND
Reagan and Gorbachev
Their meeting at Reykjavik (Iceland) ends in stalemate Reagan will not budge on SDI testing Later, Gorbachev comes to Washington They sign the INF treaty eliminating an entire class of nuclear weapons ALL missiles and warheads with range of 500 – 5,500 km Reagan now moves onto human rights violations
The Brandenburg Gate
Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, June of
