Ronald Reagan and the Strategic Defense Initiative Program “Let me share with you a vision of the future which offers hope.” March 23, 1983, Ronald Reagan broadcasted his idea on upgrading the military's defensive tactics on television. Reagan is trying to give people hope and safety from nuclear war and ICBMs or intercontinental ballistic missiles. President Reagan came up with this idea because the Soviets were threatening the United States with nuclear warfare. Ronald Reagan’s creation of the Strategic Defense Initiative was a significant program in American history because it helped warm the Cold War atmosphere and eventually lead to the fall of the Soviet Union. The Strategic Defense Initiative Program was implemented because of the