Who Played Key Roles in the Collapse of Communism?
Marx and Lenin appeared to be on the verge of political and ideological vindication by the end of the 1970s; the feeble international response to the Soviet Union’s outright takeover of Afghanistan did not bode well for the democratic cause. Who could have imagined that one decade later the Soviets’ dreams of world dominance would have dissipated? It is naïve to assume that the demise of Soviet communism was pure chance. The Reagan presidency complemented by a “peace through strength” foreign policy played a key role in getting the United States “back on track” and facilitating the emergence of glasnost inside the former Soviet Union. A change in Americans’ perception of Soviet political and military designs, undoubtedly fostered by the experience of the Carter years and by reports in conservative publications such as Reverend Moon’s Washington Times, played a key role in allowing the United States to abandon its anti-military posture of the late 1970s and commit to achieving military
