4. THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE
Reagan and his officials had no sharply chiselled ideas for overturning
communism in Moscow or breaking up the USSR.^1 They knew that
Soviet leaders remained a formidable force in the world. Jeane Kirk-
patrick was to recall that Reagan hoped to ‘spend them to death’.^2 This
indeed was one of his main objectives, and reports from the CIA wel-
comed the results he was achieving. Its reports regularly highlighted
the strains on the Kremlin’s budget that stemmed from its foreign
commitments. Afghanistan and Poland were new burdens for the
Kremlin, which already subsidized Cuba, Vietnam and the African
client states.^3
Two years into his presidential term, Reagan gave two speeches
that seized the world’s attention. On 8 March 1983, at the National
Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, he denounced the USSR as an
‘empire of evil’ and described totalitarianism as ‘the focus of evil in the
world’.^4 He explained:
During my first press conference as President, in answer to a
direct question, I pointed out that, as good Marxist-Leninists, the
Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only
morality they recognize is that which will further their cause,
which is world revolution. I think I should point out I was only
quoting Lenin, their guiding spirit, who said in 1920 that they
repudiate all morality that proceeds from supernatural ideas –
that’s their name for religion – or ideas that are outside class
conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of
class war. And everything is moral that is necessary for the anni-
hilation of the old, exploiting social order and for uniting the
proletariat.
Well, I think the refusal of many influential people to accept
this elementary fact of Soviet doctrine illustrates an historical
reluctance to see totalitarian powers for what they are. We saw
this phenomenon in the 1930s. We see it too often today.^5