Which U.S. President pursued the most successful containment strategy during the Cold War?

President Reagan pursued the most successful containment strategy during the Cold War due to his distinct aims of rebuilding American strength through a military upgrade and technological advancement, pressuring the Soviets through the Strategic Defense Initiative and a doctrine that supported Anti-Communist regimes, and negotiating to cut down the number of nuclear weapons worldwide by scrapping SALT and implementing START and INF. Reagan: Reagans aims o Rebuild American Strength o Pressure Soviets o Negotiate to resolve differences Rejects dtente, argues Soviets have systemic weaknesses, puts pressure on Soviets GADDIS Rebuild American Strength o Military US needed to upgrade and strengthen conventional forces and nuclear forces Pershing II Missiles- intermediate ranged nuclear missiles American plan- force Soviets to agree to romve SS-20s, intermediate, multiple warheads, which could take out every western European capitol in NATO. Reagan policy- pull out SS-20s, US wont deploy Pershings o Economic Tax Cuts passed Leads US out of recession Pressure Soviets o Reagans Doctrine Gives assistance to regimes that are Anti- Communist Poland, Afghanistan Originally it was an anticommunist concept, later became support for democracy o Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) One of the strongest policies during Cold War regarding containment regardless of fact that was not successful Reagans attempt to shoot down missiles targeting US Soviet technology lagged badly Their system did not encourage technology, competition killed Soviets.

Negotiate to resolve differences o SALT must be scappted- Caps did not work o START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) Reduce actual weapons o INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty)- Get rid of intermediate Nukes in Europe (Pershing IIs and SS-20s) Truman and the NSC-68 o Called for increased defense spending o Based on the Keynesian economically idea that the US could afford it o Problem- required at least 40 billion in defense spending and the US had only spent 13 billion on defense annually prior. o Turned out to be one of the most imperial and inefficient policies in the history of the United States. o According to Gaddis, NSC-68 emphasized perimeter defense as an important strategy. o As said by Gaddis, NSC-68 failed to explain some disadvantages Soviet Union would face in negotiations with the West, such as the difficulty the totalitarian system has in assessing outside events objectively, and the tendency of those who are insensitive to public opinion to alienate public opinion o Highlighted by Williams- Because of the goals to create a worldwide open door policy and spread the American empire as encouraged by the NSC-68, the US decided to accelerate the process. However, China quickly intervened, pushing the US back to Korea easily and detailing the flaws within the imperial policy Kennedy and the Flexible Response o Flexible Response was realistic in that nuclear weapons couldn't be used. It tried to provide credible means to match non-nuclear escalation. o Argued against missle gap- right idea, proceeds with build up anyway o Willing to tolerate everything except for nuclear weapons o Does nothing to indicate firmness o Forced to remove weapons out of Turkey, and Krushev knew that he had history of craving o Could not control own government Eisenhower and the New Look o 1) Reliance on nuclear weapons, 2) Use of Alliances, 3) Psychological Warfare, 4) Covert Operations, 5) Negotiation with USSR and China o According to Williams, Eisenhower had potential to start the beginning to the end of the Cold War. However, he left to legacy

because he was i=unwilling to convert his perceptions into strong policies and practices. o He lacked toughness in restricting the US empire. o Contained the knowledge that his predecessors lacked that the only war to avoid costly and unhealthy consequences of an empire was to alter the imperial practices. o Had charisma that could have initiated process away from empire