Was Reagan Responsible For The Cold War

Despite his popularity in the US as “The Man Who Beat Communism”, Reagan’s presidency during the 1980s was only a sidekick to Gorbachev in the efforts to end the Cold War. Reagan’s actions against the USSR did not scare the nation into reforms, but Gorbachev’s impact in the Cold War, reforming the Soviet Union and oversight of communism’s peaceful transition into democracy during the late 80s overshadows Reagan’s seemingly token actions, portraying clearly that the only man which can hold the title of the “Man Who Ended the Cold War” with any credibility is Mikhail Gorbachev. The claim that Reagan’s increasing actions against communism and the USSR directly led to the appointment of reformist Mikhail Gorbachev to the post of General Secretary

We were terribly wrong.” (Cook, 1) This obsession to avoid the spread of communism at all costs was quite understandable. As stated earlier, the Cold War instilled in the US a great fear of the consequences of a communist government and any influence by the Soviet Union. One vivid example of this fear was the nuclear threat and the terrible consequences of a nuclear attack. The famous Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated the scary reality of this threat. In 1962, the US discovered that the Soviet Union had put nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba capable of reaching major US cities.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the height of the Cold War since there was so much tension between the two superpowers, and both sides had deadly nuclear weapons which could have led to war. During this time, war seemed inevitable to the citizens such as Dino Brugioni. Brugioni “made arrangements for his young family to get out of Washington in the event of war” and stated "’I had seen atomic blasts and I knew the destruction they had left, and I felt sure that Washington would be a target’" (Fidgen 2012). Brugioni is one of many US citizens who believed that nuclear war would be inevitable after the discovery of the Soviet missiles in Cuba, which shows the widespread fear of nuclear war during this time. The nuclear weapons were “an explicit threat to the peace and security of all the Americans” and war was only avoided because of the agreement that Khrushchev and Kennedy had come upon (Cantelon).

Over the thirteen days, the United States considered 6 different options. “Do nothing: American vulnerability to Soviet missiles was not new. Diplomacy: Use diplomatic pressure to get the Soviet Union to remove the missiles. Secret approach: Offer Castro the choice of splitting with the Russians or being invaded. Invasion: Full force invasion of Cuba and overthrow of Castro.

This was because of the domino theory, where there was a fear of one part of Asia being taken over would result in all of Asia being taken over by communist rule. This occured in what is called the “Cold War”. It wasn’t a large fighting war, or hot war, but was more of a containment war. The rise of nuclear weapons resulted in M.A.D. or Mutually Assured Destruction which was an agreement that if one country shot a missile off, the other one did.

Meanwhile, the only one that knew the codes to recall the plane was the crazy general named Ripper. The Cold War is a term given to the intense relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. This intensity was during the period after the Second World War. The clash between these two countries was due to several reasons. First of all, both of these countries were trying to end each other use of nuclear weapons.

saw the war in Vietnam as a battle of the Cold War, the Vietnamese saw it as a civil war instead. Unfortunately, President Johnson failed to empathize with the Vietnamese the same way President Kennedy was advised to do so with the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Even though constructivism would fail to explain this decision in world politics, Realism manages to explain it well. The U.S. saw the Soviets as a threat to their own security, both due to their growing economy and their military capabilities. Seeing as the Vietnamese were communists, in the eyes of the U.S., the Soviets had just gained an ally in the South-East Asia region.

Due to Albert Einstein 's fear for the safety of the United States, he prompted the destruction of other nations. Despite Einstein’s good intentions, his suggestion led to the destruction

Mao’s China rose from the ruins of 40 years of war, broken and humiliated, into an untouchable nuclear power which threatened the balance of the bipolar world order. The primary and secondary documents on Mao and Maoism details this path built on utopian radicalism, the death and misery of millions, and an intricate relationship with the Soviet Union. This relationship began formally in 1950 with the Sino-Soviet alliance and ended in the late 1960s. The alliance was doomed from the start, both countries had little in shared cultural legacies, different perceptions on the significance of the alliance, and was based on the momentary weakness of China. However, it stood as the greatest threat to the “political supremacy of western capitalists

General Jack Ripper declares war with Russia and the communistic ideology by issuing an order to attack parts of Russia with nuclear weapons. His nationalistic fear of a foreign ideology, and their fluoridation of ice cream, smashes the idea that he is a collected individual that can deal with the pressure and the conditions of the Cold War. Confusion of priorities, Alexander Walker analyzes, tends to be at the forefront of General Ripper’s main goal. General Ripper’s job is the protection of the American people as well as the starting a nuclear war with Russia only when necessary. Through his action of beginning nuclear war with Russia, General Ripper shows a lack of awareness of his job as General as well as a lack of self awareness within himself and his conditions.