Miscellaneous
The purpose of our twenty-fourth class is to analyze the new approaches that the Reagan Administration took to the making of U.S. foreign policy. Students should use the lecture and reading materials to come to their own views as to the Reagan Doctrine, the ensuing efforts to promote democracy in places like Nicaragua and Haiti as well as the U.S. intervention in Grenada. We will explore as well the differences in the thrust of foreign policy in Reagan’s first and second terms, while considering arms control efforts with the Soviet Union and the Iran-Contra scandal. What was the importance of Ronald Reagan as an American foreign policymaker? What, in particular, is he remembered for? Did he have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?