Reagan's Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War

Reagan initiated a large build-up of the American military with the intention of defeating the Soviet Union in an arms race.

Reagan's involvement in the Middle East is most known for the Beirut Barracks Bombing, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the Iran-Contra affair.

Declassified documents show that the Reagan administration supported para-military groups in Central America in multiple genocidal campaigns.

During 1987 summit meetings, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to nuclear arms reductions, ushering in the end of the decades-long Cold War.

The costs of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as its numerous proxy wars, were extensive.