Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Thatcher and Reagan: the end of Détente,
1979-1981
- Election Victories
- Thatcher elected British PM in 1979
- Reagan elected President 1980
- Both leaders represented a new kind of conservatism
- Determined to revitalise capitalism at home and
stand up to communism abroad
- The Thatcher-Reagan love-in
- Named a 'love-in' because 'Thatcherism'
and 'Reaganomics' were similar in many
ways
- Both were committed to the same things
- Encouraging free enterprise by
'rolling back the state'
- T and R believed that govt spending and high
taxes dominated the 2 economies
- Believed that high taxes and government
interference were damaging to private enterprise
- Defence spending
- Both leaders committed to expanding govt defence spending
- Specifically - both dedicated to new gen
of nuclear missiles called Trident
- Presented problems for USSR - growing imbalance of
economic power meant that USSR could not afford to
keep pace with West on defence spending
- Standing up to the 'Evil Empire'
- R and T had similar view of the USSR
- Both believed that comm was a moral evil
that the West had a duty to oppose
- Reagan In Power
- Reagan was more important partner
in the T-R relationship
- R's foreign policy was designed to assert US
strength and weaken position of USSR
- Did this in the following ways:
- Restricted trade with USSR to deny them
access to superior Western technology
- Committed US govt to massive defence
project - Strategic Defence Initiative - SDI
- Known as 'star wars' as it consisted of a space-based nuclear shield
- R proposed a fleet of US satellites armed with lasers that would shoot
down Soviet Missile before they could harm US
- R increased support for anti-Soviet regimes
and organisations in the 3rd World
- Used confrontation rhetoric - including the
phrase 'Evil Empire' to describe USSR
- However, R did not seek war
- In fact - in an attempt to reach out to Soviet leaders - he
lifted the grain embargo that Carter imposed in 1980
- Significance of Reagan's policies
- Star Wars was particularly significant - new policy
worried Soviet leaders for 2 reasons
- Soviet leaders knew they'd be unable to compete with SDI
- During 70s - USA had produced sophisticated computer
tech which far surpassed anything available in USSR
- This tech would form basis of SDI
- Economic problems in Eastern Bloc and renewed growth in West
pushed the economic balance further in favour of West
- Soviet leaders knew that they couldn't match the USA's spending commitment to SDI
- 'Star Wars' implied that R was contemplating a 'winnable nuclear war'
- Space-based missile shield could - in theory - counter a Soviet nuclear
attack, allowing US to survive a nuclear war unscathed
- Therefore - USSR's nuclear arsenal would no longer deter a US
nuclear strike - an end to the safety of MAD
- R's new confrontational style was significant
as it increased superpower tensions hugely
- Gromyko - senior member of Russian govt -
noted an increased 'chill' in superpower relations
from R's inauguration in Jan 1981
- R made inflammatory off-the-cuff remarks about the
possibility of a 'limited nuclear war in Europe' which
caused great concern to comm leaders
- Timeline of the US decline in
commitment to Détente
- 1976 - Fierce criticism of D during presidential election
- 1977 - Carter - a critic of D- becomes US president
- 1977 - SALT II negotiation difficulties - Carter demands lower ceilings
- 1979 - Soviets invade Afghanistan - US criticisms of D increase
- 1980 - Carter demands Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and introduces grain embargo
- 1981 - Reagan - committed to ending Détente - becomes US president