Bibliographic details and abstracts are available to all. Downloads of full-text dissertations are restricted to University of Portsmouth members who must login. MPhils may be accessed by all.

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to investigate the extent to which Ronald Reagan can be credited with a Cold War victory for the United States of America during his 2 terms in office (1981-89). Much of the literature focuses on this question although in order to answer the question this dissertation not only assess the role played by Reagan but also the roles played by other key players in the last decade of the Cold War such as Mikhail Gorbachev, George Schultz and George H.W.Bush. This dissertation also looks at the role played by external forces such as the devaluation of oil and the Chernobyl disaster, in order to provide a clearer conclusion to the question to what extent did Ronald Reagan achieve America’s Cold War victory?

 

The dissertation takes a chronological approach, with the chapters broken up into distinct thematic subheadings such as arms reduction treaties and the role played by peace summits. This dissertation is also structured as such that the historiography and literature review is embedded within each chapter. The conclusion of this dissertation being that in spite of the reasonable amount of recognition that must be awarded to both Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W.Bush, Ronald Reagan must be merited with the substantial credit in relation to bringing an end to the Cold War. Even though the Cold War officially ended after Reagan’s time in office, Reagan's triumph was in his diminishing of the conflict via his “squeeze” strategy that he implemented during his second term in office. As a result of the strides made under this strategy both Gorbachev and Bush were able to preside over a rapid 3-year peaceful end of the Cold War. A feat which would not have been possible without the role played by Ronald Reagan during his 8 years in office. Therefore, this dissertation advances the statement that Ronald Reagan was substantially responsible for bringing America to victory in the Cold War.

Course: History - BA (Hons) - C1087

Date Deposited: 2022-12-08

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14084.html