President Ronald Reagan, who served as the 40th president of the United States of America, is renowned for his foreign policy efforts aimed at preventing a second Vietnam War. The Reagan Doctrine, his foreign policy approach, was centered on a singular objective: preventing the reoccurrence of a conflict similar to the Vietnam War. To achieve this policy objective, Reagan had two main components in his foreign policy efforts: the Kirkpatrick Doctrine and Support for Low-Intensity Conflicts. The first component of his doctrine, known as the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, establishes authoritarian regimes as the lesser of two evils when compared to communist governments. In addition to believing that authoritarian regimes are relatively less evil, this doctrine also argues that communist regimes were more invasive in their attempts to control the thoughts and actions of their citizens through their use of pervasive propaganda. Furthermore, the doctrine contends that communist regimes crack down on American institutions like religion and family, and were associated with large-scale repression through labour camps. Therefore, Reagan recognized the downfalls of communism and advocated ending these regimes from the outset. …show more content…
This component includes Reagan’s viewpoint on the Vietnam Syndrome. Fundamentally, the Vietnam Syndrome refers to the reluctance of the US to deploy large numbers of American military forces in conflicts abroad. More broadly, it refers to the belief that public opinion would oppose any wars that resemble the Vietnam War, which had large-scale deployments outside of the US, even if there were allied nations involved. This belief stems from the significant loss of American lives during the Vietnam War and the idea that further casualties would harm America’s reputation and negatively impact the American