Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan, who served as U.S. president from 1981 to 1989, rejected détente, the relaxation of tension between the United States and Soviet Union, and took a hard-line stand against America’s adversary. During Reagan’s first term, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union became strained, but during his second term, his growing friendship with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev improved U.S.-Soviet relations. However, relations between the superpowers chilled once again in 1985, when Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), the technological pursuit of defensive weapons in space. Gorbachev’s concern over SDI stalled negotiations on an intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty. Both leaders ultimately signed the treaty in 1987.

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