Foreign+Policy

media type="custom" key="3756023" width="85" height="90" **Much of the foreign policy of the 1980s is credited to the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Under Reagan the U.S. started sponsoring more action in Latin American countries, and relieving tensions with the U.S.S.R. Reagan was determined to resist the growth of communism. In the eighties there were American troops involved in Grenada and El Salvador; as well the U.S. was in a "Second Cold War" with the U.S.S.R. While the eighties was the** **decade of good music it also had many struggles.**


 * Year by year the U.S. had much turmoil in the eighties. More than 50 nations, including the United States, boycotted the 22nd Summer Olympic Games in Moscow in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980. In 1981 Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States. On the same day, Iran released the 52 remaining hostages who had been held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for 444 days, while Carter was president. Later in '81 President Ronald Reagan escalated the "Second Cold War" with heavy new military spending and research in new weapons. In 1982 Reagan sent a small number of troops to Beirut as a "peace keeping force" between warring Christian and Muslim factions. In 1983 there was much terror against the U.S. In Lebanon a** **suicide truck bomber killed 241 members of the U.S. peacekeeping force when he crashed into the Marines barracks. Also to** **protect against a perceived Communist threat in Grenada, and to protect U.S. medical students from growing unrest, 5,000 U.S. troops invaded the island nation.** [[image:reagan.gif width="236" height="172" caption="Reagan giving a speech"]][[image:untitled.jpg width="175" height="246" caption="50 Nations boycotted the 1980 Olympics"]]

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 * Starting in 1984, Reagan began his campaign to get reelected for a second term as president. He campaigned hard and beat Walter Mondale. In 1985 he was sworn into office at the age of 75, becoming the oldest president to be sworn into office. Reagan continued his foreign policy for the rest of the eighties. In 1986 White House officials sold weapons to Iran and gave the profits to the Contras. Up until 1988 the Iran-Iraq continued with the U.S. staying neutral. And finally in 1989 the Soviet Empire ended and the Berlin Wall fell; all East European satellites broke away from Moscow and there was no longer a U.S.S.R.**[[image:Ronald-Reagan-1985.jpg width="185" height="240" caption="President Ronald Reagan in his office."]][[image:logo_communism.jpg width="200" height="200" caption="The Soviet Union Fell"]]