See also Elections in the United States, 1980; Elec-
tions in the United States, 1984; Reagan, Ronald;
Reagan Revolution; Reaganomics.
Reagan Doctrine
Definition U.S. foreign policy to defeat
communist expansion by supporting
anticommunist forces in Africa, Asia, and Latin
Latin America
This policy of President Ronald Reagan was a significant
shift from the strategy of containment of communism that
had been the dominant foreign policy of most American ad-
ministrations since World War II. Some credit the pressure
from this policy with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end
of the Cold War.
Although the term “Reagan Doctrine” was not coined
until 1985, the policy of attempting to push back
communism was always part of the Ronald Reagan
administration’s foreign policy. President Reagan
inherited President Jimmy Carter’s policy of actively
supporting forces opposing the Soviets and the So-
viet-installed government in Afghanistan. Many of
Reagan’s conservative allies sought ways of expand-
ing this policy to other locations. Initially, most of
the support was handled by covert Central Intelli-
gence Agency (CIA) operations, with the second
phase being the expansion into Angola and Nicara-
gua. However, as Congress became aware of this use
of the CIA, it began to seek oversight of the opera-
tions. After this time, Reagan’s support of anticom-
munists became part of his public policy.
Politically, the most controversial operation was
his support of the Contras against the Sandinista
National Liberation Front in Nicaragua. Congress’s
rejection of this policy led to the Iran-Contra affair.
However, the president was able to survive this po-
litical setback and continued to expand the list of
countries in which the United States challenged
communist-supported governments. Reagan often
used the term “freedom fighters” to describe the
forces opposing these governments.
In many ways, the Reagan Doctrine reflected the
lesson learned by previous administrations: that it
was difficult and expensive to defeat insurgent move-
ments seeking to overthrow allied governments in
the developing world, while it was relatively inexpen-
sive to support insurgencies. Just as the Soviet Union
had supported such movements in earlier decades
against American allies, Reagan supported any force
he thought capable of defeating the Soviet allies. In
1986, he specifically mentioned the countries of Af-
ghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Nicara-
gua as targets of this move against communism.
Impact While the Reagan Doctrine had some do-
mestic political repercussions, it was relatively success-
ful as a foreign policy. The criticism focused on the
facts that the forces supported by the United States
did not follow internationally recognized standards
of conduct and that most of the conflicts were fairly
local in scope without a direct impact on American in-
terests. However, President Reagan viewed the world
through the context of the Cold War and acted ac-
cording to the dictate of opposing all manifestations
of communism. During his presidency, or shortly
thereafter, all five countries specifically targeted in his
1986 speech showed changes that signaled the defeat
of the Soviet Union and its allies. Only Angola did not
have a total change of government as a result of this
doctrine. In more recent years, the one major criti-
cism of this policy pointed to the administration’s
support of the mujahideen in Afghanistan, which led
to the Taliban governing that country, with negative
repercussions for the United States in the next two
decades.
Further Reading
Lagon, Mark P.The Reagan Doctrine: Sources of Ameri-
can Conduct in the Cold War’s Last Chapter. West-
port, Conn.: Praeger, 1994.
Scott, James M.Deciding to Intervene: The Reagan Doc-
trine and American Foreign Policy. Durham, N.C.:
Duke University Press, 1996.
Donald A. WattSee also Africa and the United States; Cold War;
Foreign policy of the United States; Grenada inva-
sion; Iran-Contra affair; Latin America; Nuclear win-
ter scenario; Reagan, Ronald; Reagan’s “Evil Em-
pire” speech.808 Reagan Doctrine The Eighties in America