Union that, in the event of a confrontation, they
might have to be launched “on warning,” rather
than in response to a confirmed Soviet attack. Mean-
while, on the defensive side, Reagan proposed com-
mitting significant resources to the development of
a controversial, satellite-based antimissile defense
system called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI,
known colloquially as “Star Wars”).
Second, Reagan chose to fight a war by proxy
against the Soviet units in Afghani-
stan. Using Pakistan as a staging
ground, the Reagan administration
funneled large amounts of military
and economic assistance into the
hands of the various anti-Soviet forces
in Afghanistan, including foreign Is-
lamic fighters who traveled to Afghan-
istan to join the insurgency. Among
the items supplied were Stinger mis-
siles, which were subsequently cred-
ited with defeating the Soviet mission
by denying Soviet aircraft the com-
mand of the skies upon which Mos-
cow’s military strategy depended.
Finally, in order to erode Soviet in-
fluence in the developing world, the
United States intervened indirectly in
several low-intensity conflicts in devel-
oping nations. The strategy of rolling
back Soviet influence in such areas be-
came known as the Reagan Doctrine,
and the principal battleground was
the Western Hemisphere, where the
United States actively aided the right-
wing Contras in the conflict in Nicara-
gua and sought to topple El Salvador’s
leftist government as well. The U.S.
support of the anti-Soviet fighters in
Afghanistan also fell under this doc-
trine, as did such other U.S. initiatives
as the 1982 deployment of a peace-
keeping force in Lebanon, where So-
viet ally Syria was attempting to influ-
ence the outcome of the ongoing civil
war.
Throughout his first term, Presi-
dent Reagan’s rhetoric generally
matched or exceeded his hawkish pol-
icies. The Soviet Union was stigma-
tized as “the Evil Empire,” and assorted
other issues, such as state-sponsored terrorism, were
often attributed to its machinations. Even the suc-
cession to power in 1985 of the reform-minded
Mikhail Gorbachev did not initially halt the flow
of Cold War rhetoric, with Reagan famously chal-
lenging Gorbachev to prove his liberalism in Ber-
lin (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”). Conse-
quently, the first meeting of these two heads of state
ended in a chilly swap of Cold War shopping lists,The Eighties in America Cold War 225
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at the
Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, West Germany, in which he chal-
lenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to prove his liberalism:In the 1950’s, Khrushchev predicted: “We will bury you.” But
in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level
of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human his-
tory. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological
backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of
the most basic kind—too little food. Even today, the Soviet
Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then,
there stands before the entire world one great and inescap-
able conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom re-
places the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity
and peace. Freedom is the victor.
And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be
coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear
much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and open-
ness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain
foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some
economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with
greater freedom from state control.
Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the So-
viet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false
hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without
changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we be-
lieve that freedom and security go together, that the advance
of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world
peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be
unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of
freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you
seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if
you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorba-
chev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”