APUSH Ronald Wilson Reagan

Not long after the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Romero, peaceful rallies turned violent as police opened fire on the crowds. News footage of unarmed demonstrators being gunned down on the steps of the National Cathedral turned the eyes of the world to El Salvador, a tiny country in conflict. The desire to prevent the kind of leftist takeover seen in Cuba and Nicaragua motivated the United States to get involved. Human rights - a cornerstone of President Carter's foreign policy - also propelled the U.S. to action. Not only the general level of violence, but also the murders of American citizens affected U.S. relations with El Salvador. In December 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered. The U.S. responded by cutting off aid to El Salvador, but only very briefly, pending an investigation. Then, in 1981, two American land reform advisers were gunned down in the Sheraton Hotel in San Salvador. The U.S. Congress subsequently decided to disburse aid only as improvements in the Salvadoran human rights situation became evident.

he Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) is a 1987 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987, it was ratified by the United States Senate on May 27, 1988 and came into force on June 1 of that year. The treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges, defined as between 500-5,500 km (300-3,400 miles).

By the summer of 1983, it was clear that the negotiation and training components of U.S. policy had failed. The U.S. embassy had been bombed in the spring, probably a reaction to (unsuccessful) U.S. pressures on Syria . The LAF remained at a low level of competence (described as "a block of Swiss cheese ... you run into holes in surprising places") and was seen as incapable of extending control outside of Beirut (in Beirut, it was the MNF which patrolled). Then the marines began to be attacked. The U.S. changed the rules of engagement to permit "aggressive self-defense" (including on behalf of other MNF contingents) and responded by naval bombardment and by launching fighter jets to warn against further escalation. In the meantime, the Israelis had withdrawn from the mountains overlooking Beirut . Although the marine commander proposed occupying those positions, on the grounds that the LAF was incompetent and that Lebanese anti-government forces would avoid ground combat with the U.S., a troop deployment was considered undesirable (both the Europeans and Congress were strongly against) and unnecessary. Instead, Reagan authorized "naval gun fire support and, if deemed necessary, tactical air strikes" in support of LAF operations in the mountains; ordered increased numbers of ships and Marines to the coast of Lebanon (this was described as "a marker for the Syrians"); and intensified diplomatic pressure on Syria . These policies, it was expected, would "force a withdrawal" of enemy "guns and mortars." As discussed in the book (chapter five), this expectation was grossly inaccurate.

Vice President George Bush hosts a secret meeting with his foreign policy adviser, Donald Gregg (see 1982), and former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez. The meeting is the first impetus of the National Security Council (NSC)'s initiative to secretly, and illegally, fund the Nicaraguan Contras in an attempt to overthrow that country's socialist government. Rodriguez agrees to run a central supply depot at Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador.

a suicide bomber steered a truck loaded with the equivalent of six tons of TNT down the airport road in Beirut, Lebanon. He plowed into the four-story barracks where more than 300 U.S. troops from a U.N. peacekeeping mission slept and detonated what the FBI called the largest non-nuclear bomb in history. The explosion and fireball pulverized the concrete fortress, killing 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines. A second blast minutes later at the compound of the French peacekeeping force killed 58 more Western troops. Three months later, President Ronald Reagan pulled the Americans out of Beirut.

Occurred because an airstrip was being built on the island of Grenada. This airstrip caused people to question US security in the Caribbean. The US invaded Grenada and established a pro-US government.

In a national address on the night of October 23, President Reagan vowed to keep the Marines in Lebanon, but just four months later he announced the end of the American role in the peacekeeping force. On February 26, 1984, the main force of Marines left Lebanon, leaving just a small contingent to guard the U.S. embassy in Beirut.

The CIA also placed mines in Nicaraguan harbors on January 7, 1984 and February 29, 1984, damaging several ships. The contras initially took credit for the mining, but the Wall Street Journal reported it to be the work of the CIA a few months later. Moreover, it was discovered that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, a U.S. Marine who worked on the National Security Council staff at the Reagan White House, had known of and recommended the operation. The judge said that both sides of the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador had committed atrocities. He said the U.S. mining of Nicaraguan harbors was unlawful in regard to third parties, but not Nicaragua.

"short sweet and to the point" a promise to restore American pride and confidence. Anti-communist morality; believes detente is a tool the Soviets are using to manipulate the U.S. was a strategy orchestrated and implemented by the United States under the Reagan Administration to oppose the global influence of the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War. While the doctrine lasted less than a decade, it was the centerpiece of United States foreign policy from the early 1980s until the end of the Cold War in 1991. Under the Reagan Doctrine, the U.S. provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in an effort to "rollback" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The doctrine was designed to serve the dual purposes of diminishing Soviet influence in these regions, while also potentially opening the door for capitalism (and sometimes liberal democracy) in nations that were largely being governed by Soviet-supported socialist governments.

The Congress of People's Deputies elected General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev as the new president of the Soviet Union on On March 11, 1985. While the election was a victory for Gorbachev, it also revealed serious weaknesses in his power base that would eventually lead to the collapse of his presidency in December 1991. The Cold War Ends

"I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, find that the policies and actions of the Government of Nicaragua constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat." With that May 1,1985 declaration, Ronald Reagan imposed a commercial embargo against Nicaragua, prohibiting all trade between the United States and Nicaragua and stripping the country's national airline, Aeronica, of its right to land on US soil. Nicaraguan ships were also banned from landing in US ports and in conjunction with declaring the embargo, Reagan abrogated a longstanding Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Nicaragua. That treaty states, in part, that "neither party shall impose restrictions or prohibitions on the importation of any product of the other party, or on the exportation of any product to the territories of the other party."

On April 14, 1986, the United States launches air strikes against Libya in retaliation for the Libyan sponsorship of terrorism against American troops and citizens. The raid, which began shortly before 7 p.m. EST (2 a.m., April 15 in Libya), involved more than 100 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft, and was over within an hour. Five military targets and "terrorism centers" were hit, including the headquarters of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi.

U.S. troops in armored personnel carriers surround the Cuban, Nicaraguan and Libyan Embassies in Panama City on he pretext that Manuel Noriega may be inside one of them, although both General Thomas Kelly and Rear Admiral Ted Sheafer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledge on U.S. television that there is no evidence that Noriega has sought asylum in any of them. Until January 18, U.S. troops continue to surround the Cuban Embassy and the home of the Cuban ambassador to Panama, Lázaro Mora Secade, occasionally detaining the ambassador and other Cuban diplomats. It turns out that Noriega is inside the papal nunciature in Panama City. On January 3, he surrenders to U.S. troops and is immediately flown to prison in Florida.

October 4th marks an important date in Canada-U.S. trade relations. In 1987, both countries agreed to the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA). Negotiations toward a free trade agreement with the U.S. began in 1986. The two nations agreed to a historic agreement that placed Canada and the United States at the forefront of trade liberalization. Key elements of the agreement included the elimination of tariffs, the reduction of many non-tariff barriers, and it was among the first trade agreements to address trade in services. It also included a dispute settlement mechanism for the fair and expeditious resolution of trade disputes. The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement is superseded by NAFTA, which includes Mexico.

Representatives of the USSR, Afghanistan, the United States, and Pakistan sign an agreement calling for the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. In exchange for an end to the disputed Soviet occupation, the United States agreed to end its arms support for the Afghan anti-Soviet factions, and Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed not to interfere in each other's affairs.

President Ronald Reagan ends his first trip to Moscow, and his fourth summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, on notes of both frustration and triumph. Although there were no breakthroughs or agreements on substantive issues, the "Great Communicator," as Reagan was known in the United States, was a hit with Soviet audiences. No further progress on arms limitation was made, and Reagan's efforts to push the human rights issue met a frosty response from Gorbachev. The summit indicated that despite the progress made in improving U.S.-Soviet relations in the past years, serious differences still existed.

The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, commonly referred to as the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, requires destruction of the Parties' ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, their launchers and associated support structures and support equipment within three years after the Treaty enters into force.

An American naval warship patrolling in the Persian Gulf has shot down an Iranian passenger jet after apparently mistaking it for an F-14 fighter. All those on board the airliner - almost 300 people - are believed dead. The plane, an Airbus A300, was making a routine flight from Bandar Abbas, in Iran, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The USS Vincennes had tracked the plane electronically and warned it to keep away. When it did not the ship fired two surface-to-air missiles, at least one of which hit the airliner. Navy officials said the Vincennes' crew believed they were firing at an Iranian F14 jet fighter, although they had not confirmed this visually.