American History - End of the Cold War (1980-1988)

Ronald Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980 the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democratic losses in most social-economic groups.

"Reagan Democrats" were conservative ethnics who usually voted Democratic but were attracted by Reagan's policies, personality and leadership, notably his social conservatism and hawkish foreign policy.

In foreign affairs bipartisanship was not in evidence. The Democrats doggedly opposed the president's efforts to support the Contras of Nicaragua. He took a hard line against the Soviet Union, alarming Democrats who wanted a nuclear freeze, but he succeeded in growing the military budget and launching a very high-tech "Star Wars" missile defense system that the Soviets could not match. When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in Moscow many conservative Republicans were dubious of the friendship between him and Reagan. Gorbachev tried to save Communism in Russia first by ending the expensive arms race with America, then (1989) by shedding the East European empire. Communism finally collapsed in Russia in 1991.

If you found this interesting and would like to read more about American history, please click here to select the next section in this series on American history. If you are not interested, please click on the link below and you will return to our Reading Selections II page. Please see if you can find other reading there that interests you. If not, we suggest you venture out on the Internet and try to find something that does interest you.

This page is a modified section of an article at Wikipedia on American history. Click here to read the original article at Wikipedia about American history. According to the Wikipedia leftright, this modified section can be used or modified as long as there are links provided to both Wikipedia and Aaron Language Services.