Reagan and the World

Throughout his presidency, Ronald Reagan sought “peace through strength” during an era of historic change. In the decades since, pundits and scholars have argued over the president’s legacy: some consider Reagan a charismatic and consummate leader who renewed American strength and defeated communism. To others he was an ambitious and dangerous warmonger whose presidency was plagued with mismanagement, misconduct and foreign policy failures. The recent declassification of Reagan administration records and the availability of new Soviet documents has created an opportunity for more nuanced, complex and compelling analyses of this pivotal period in international affairs.

In “Reagan and the World,” leading scholars and national security professionals offer fresh interpretations of the 40th president’s influence on American foreign policy. This collection addresses Reagan’s management of the U.S. national security establishment as well as the influence of Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and others in the administration and Congress. The contributors present in-depth explorations of U.S.-Soviet relations and American policy toward Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. This balanced and sophisticated examination reveals the complexity of Reagan’s foreign policy, clarifies the importance of other international actors of the period and provides new perspectives on the final decade of the Cold War.