Along with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Reagan harshly criticized the Soviet Union on ideological and moral terms.
In 1983, Soviet Union fighter planes shot down a Korean Air commercial passenger plane, killing all 269 passengers, including a US congressman. This prompted a harsh diplomatic and economic response by President Reagan.
Under the Reagan Doctrine, the United States provided arms, training, and financial aid to anti-communist movements around the world, including Islamist Mujaheddin forces in Afghanistan.
The “Reagan Doctrine” offered support to anti-communist opposition in central Europe and worked against socialist and communist governments. During his presidency, Reagan implemented the Strategic Defense Initiative, which attempted to create a missile-defense system. Critics challenged this as technologically unfeasible.
Key Terms
Global Positioning System: A space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more satellites; it is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible to anyone with a receiver.
Strategic Defense Initiative: A system proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983, to use ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.
Détente: A relaxing of tension between major powers, especially the particular thawing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cold War.
