Having served his first term in office, Reagan, along with vice-presidential candidate George H.W. Bush sought re-election in 1984. Remaining steadfast in his conviction of a strong military and economic plan, the duo was successful in returning to the White House. The Reagan administration’s policy of widespread freedom and democracy, known as “the Reagan doctrine,” also remained constant subsequently placing the United States on the foreign policy high ground.
Following the death of three key leaders, Leonard Brezhnev in 1982, Yuri Andropov in 1984, and Konstantin Chernenko in 1985, and the attempt to keep at pace with US militarist and technological advances, the Soviet Union’s economy found itself in a decline from which there was no return. In addition, the US support of anti-Soviet rebellions helped fuel the fire consuming the USSR’s global strength. Despite this, the issue of diplomacy with the Soviet Union remained when Reagan questioned how he was to meet with the Russians if its leaders kept dying. Things changed, however, when Reagan was able to meet with the fifty-four year old Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. In an attempt to remedy the issue of a declining government, the Soviet Union pursued the policies of glasnost, practice of open consultative government and wider dissemination of information and perestroika, the policy of reconstructing the economic and political system — essentially increasing automation, labor efficiency, awareness of economic markets, and the end of central planning. Reagan and Gorbachev’s initial meeting in Geneva brought about discussion to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Evidently, the aforementioned changes in Soviet policymaking signaled something greater than a willingness to cooperate — it was an indicator of a government on the verge of collapse, an inability to keep pace.
During a visit to Berlin, Germany in 1987, Reagan delivered a speech which has gone down in history as one of great importance. Reagan stated, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” In November 1989, the Berlin wall, which stood as a symbol of tyranny, was demolished by the German people and led to the reunification of the nation and the end of communist rule throughout Eastern and Central Europe.
In his farewell address, Reagan said “Man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.”
Finally, in December 1991 during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, the world witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War era.
The International Review 