Annotated Prospectus-Bibliography
In my paper "Ronald Reagan the Road to Cold War Victory," I will begin by showing that
the Cold War started decades before Reagan had taken office as the President of the United
States. Before Reagan became governor of California, President Harry S Truman made
containment of communism his top priority. Since Reagan was a former actor, he was familiar
with the accusation made in Hollywood about people concerning affiliations with the communist
party.
During the 1960s and 70s, Ronald Reagan, then Governor Reagan, was privy to many
world crises between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cuban missile crisis and the
failed Bay of Pigs operations during the Kennedy Administration turned the doomsday clock
closer to zero than it had ever been before at that time. It was also during this time that perhaps
that America had lost its belief in its government. After the assassination of John Kennedy and
the Warren Commission report, most Americans no longer trusted the government.
When Ronald Reagan finally entered the national political arena, it couldn't have come at
a better time. My 10-to-12-page report will show that the former actor's timing was perfect
considering that the nation had just finished a significant war just a few years prior, and they had
lost faith in the current President Jimmy Carter. The USSR was not resting on its laurels,
spending over 20% of its national income just on its military.
After Reagan won the election, he wasted no time convincing the American public that
the Soviets were our enemies. Throughout his first and second terms, he not only proved the
Soviets could not be trusted, but he also managed to convince them of a defense system that did
not exist. Reagan was a great actor, who played in his favor when dealing with lesser foreign
politicians such as the Soviets. Therefore, my paper is called "Ronald Reagan the Road to Cold
War Victory."
Primary sources
Chiampan, Jason Saltoun-Ebin & Andrea. "The Reagan Files: The Euromissles Crisis to the Intermediate
Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, 1979-1987." www.thereaganfiles.com. October 11, 2011.
http://www.thereaganfiles.com/inf-treaty.html.
On this web page, the authors Chiampan and Saltoun-Ebin document and discuss the
process leading up to signing the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty or INF Treaty. At the
end of 1987, President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev signed the treaty and launched
an era of change. Two thousand seven hundred ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles
would be destroyed between the two superpowers because of the treaty.
Cooper, James. "From Reykjavik to Fulton: Reagan, Thatcher, and the ending of the Cold." Journal of
Transatlantic Studies, 2016: 383-400.
In this book, written in 2016, Cooper writes about the superpower summits for 1985 to
1991. This book describes how top-secret talks between Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and
George H.W. Bush have essentially led to the end of the Cold War. According to the author,
declassified documents from the former Soviet Union and transcripts of those meetings made this
book possible.
Ronald Reagan's Visit to West Berlin. Performed by President Ronald Reagan. 1987.
In this video, President Reagan visited West Berlin on June 11, 1982. He had stopped
there because it was the 750 anniversary of the city. Instead of Reagan being a smiling diplomat,
he perhaps gave one of the most iconic speeches of all time. President Reagan's "Tear Down This
Wall" will always be remembered; however, the President was also there to bolster more troop
buildup as well.
Reagan, Ronald. An American Life: Ronald Reagan. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
This autobiography of Ronald Reagan, written in 1990, describes his life in short
sections. Reagan writes about his humble beginnings, his acting career, and his life as a
politician. As a young adult, Reagan learned that small towns were the key to keeping one's feet
planted on the ground. Small towns and small universities meant that you could make a
difference, he wrote.
Reagan, Ronald." Reagan's First State of the Union Address."Nation Center for Public Policy Research.
January 26, 1982. https://nationalcenter.org/ncppr/2001/11/04/ronald-reagans-first-state-of-
the-union-1982/.
In President Reagan's first State of the Union Addresses, he began lightening the mood by
poking fun of his age. During his speech in 1982, he talked about many things, from a lower
inflation rate to how raising taxes won't balance the budget; it will only encourage more
government spending. At the end of the speech, President Reagan mentioned starting
negotiations with the Soviets in Geneva.
Reagan, Ronald "Ronald Reagan - State Of The Union 1983."The Patriot Post. January 25, 1983.
https://patriotpost.us/references/76047-ronald-reagan-state-of-the-union-1983.
President Reagan's second State of the Union Address wasn't much different from the
first State of the Union Address. Many of the same points were addressed, such as the economy
doing well, increased jobs, and falling inflation. This was also the first speech to be postponed
because of a national tragedy, the Challenger disaster. President Reagan gave his speech on Feb.
4th.
Oberdorfer, Don. "Reagan Offered to Hold 2 Summits with Gorbachev." The Washington Post. (1985).
This Washing Post article, written by Don Oberdorfer, states that President Reagan would
concede to travel to the Soviet Union if Mikhail Gorbachev traveled to the White House in
November 1985. According to the article, Secretary of State George Shults will meet with his
Russian counterpart Edward Shevardnadze in Helsinki to improve relations between the two
nations.
Jones, John M. and Rowland, Robert C. "REAGAN AT MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY: CONSUBSTANTIALITY
UNDERLYING CONFLICT." Rhetoric & Public Affairs 10, no. 1, (Spring, 2007): 77-106.
In this journal, authors Jones and Rowland write about Ronald Reagan's mountainous
task of doing two things simultaneously. The authors noted that Reagan had to keep a hardline
approach to the Soviet and communist advancement, but at the same time, he also needed to
support Mikhail Gorbachev. When Reagan spoke at Moscow State University, he delivered what
the authors would call a "political sermon." In the end, he explains to a student the difference
between our constitution and everyone else's.
Secondary Sources
Anderson, Martin and Anderson, Annelise. Ronald Reagan: Decisions of Greatness. Washington DC:
Hoover Institution Press, 2015.
In this book, the authors Anderson and Anderson discuss Reagan's decisions that brought
the Cold War to an end. The authors also write about how Reagan was a firm believer that no
nuclear war could be won. He also believed in negotiating peace through strength. Perhaps one
of the best chapters is chapter two, when the authors discuss Reagan's accomplishments,
precisely when he gets the Soviets to reduce their nuclear arms buildup.
Davis, Jonathan. The Global 1980s People, Power and Profit. New York: Abingdon, Oxon, 2019.
In this book, author Jonathan Davis takes a different approach to the end of the Cold War.
The 1980s was considered a decade of change for many reasons. According to the author,
globalization was on the rise, and for most of the world, that meant having the extras in life, but
in the eastern bloc countries, these luxuries would not be so. Davis writes about the 1980s and
the Cold War almost from a financial standpoint.
History.com editors. Cold War History. October 27, 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-
war-history.
On the History Channel website, the editors have compiled several web pages concerning
the Cold War. The Suez Crisis, the Belin Wall, the arms race, Perestroika, and of course, the Cold
War History are just a few of the pages on file. The Cold War History page discusses the war
from the atomic age to the end of the 1990s.
Lettow, Paul. "President Reagan's Legacy and U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy." The Heritage Foundation.
July 20, 2006. https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/president-reagans-legacy-and-us-
nuclear-weapons-policy.
This document, written by Former Senior Director for Strategic Planning Paul Lettow,
talks about how President Reagan was a Strategist, Visionary, Nuclear Abolitionist, and Anti-
Communist. Lettow also goes on extensively to write about how Reagan was a Cold War Leader.
He discusses how Reagan used his belief system to guide him, and it served him as a framework
for the rest of his presidency.
Matlock, Jack. Reagan and the World: Leadership and National Security, 1981--1989. Lexington,
Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2017.
In this book, the author Jack Matlock discusses topics such as the National Security
Establishment, Ronald Reagan's Engagement, and the Cold War and Gorbachev, Perestroika,
and the End of the Cold War. The latter chapter discusses how Gorbachev may have been a "soft
liner," and his political views were probably in line with Reagan's. This perhaps could have aided
the end of the Cold War.
Svetlana, Savranskaya and Blanton, Thomas. The Last Superpower Summits: Reagan, Gorbachev and
Bush. Conversations that Ended the Cold War. New York: Central European University Press,
2016.
In this book, Svetlana and Blanton begin the book with chronological events such as the
election of Gorbachev as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It
continues through 1985 and the first summit in Geneva and ends in 1991 with the last meeting in
Moscow. When the authors wrote about each forum, the reader could see the progress from
chapter to chapter and within each summit.
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