Ronald Wilson Regan's Role In Ending The Cold War

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Ronald Wilson Regan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, IL. He attended Eureka college in Illinois and graduated in 1932.Regan was ordered to active duty in the military for the first time on April 18, 1942. Regan had very poor eyesight; therefore he was classified for limited service only, which meant he couldn’t serve overseas. After service in the military, Regan began his career in politics in 1948. He started as a Hollywood Democrat, but became a Republican in 1962. Off to the side, He also was an actor and starred in some popular movies such as, The Killers in 1964. He served as the Governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and decided to run for President of the United States in 1976. He ran against Jimmy Carter in 1981 and was victorious. …show more content…

Dissimilar to other presidents, Regan facilitated an end to communism around the world through his pro-active stance with the Soviet Union in the following exchanges: the INF Treaty and the Cold War. Regan’s main goal when coming into office was to end the feud with Russia. His first step in doing this was creating the INF Treaty. The INF Treaty happened to be the first stage of progress in ending the cold war. The INF Treaty eventually led to the destruction of 859 American and 1,836 Soviet nuclear missiles. (Hoekstra Database) The amount of courage and optimism Regan put towards ending Communism was remarkable. He was the first president to ever really attempt to make progress with Gorbachev because many other presidents and world leaders had a great fear of Gorbachev. Regan did not fear Gorbachev, actually from his first day in office, he tried to mend the relationship between the two nations. Many people thought Regan or any other U.S. president did not have the ability to end the cold war. Hoekstra states: “Who would have thought in the early eighties that it would be President Reagan, who would sign with us the first nuclear-arms reduction agreement in history?” (Database) Regan was doubted time and time again while he was in office, but no one can deny his great accomplishments of ending Communism. The INF Treaty was one of the biggest achievements Regan attained. Another way Regan took a hands-on approach to ending Communism was eventually ending the Cold War. Many presidents before Regan tried to threaten the Soviets and use force to end the Cold War. Regan wanted to try something innovative and distinctive. Reagan announced the new approach the U.S. would take to ending the cold war, which was going to be more encouraging and less threatening. (Pach Database) Regan said he was sick of fighting with the Soviet Union and wanted to try anything to end this dispute. His peaceful approach shocked the Soviets and was a big reason this non-violent war was ended.