Influence of The Cold War
Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 offered the regime in Pretoria a conservative president who, in an early speech, declared his support for the white minority government of South Africa, and their support for the U.S. in times of war. After the administration of previous President Jimmy Carter had pledged to support majority rule in South Africa, South African President P. W. Botha saw in Reagan what he saw in Thatcher: a leader who would respect his regime's battle against communism in Southern Africa. The Cold War and threat of Soviet influence in the region, Namibia in particular, enabled the South African government to appeal to the Reagan Administration's fear of an African "domino effect." In light of this, South Africa received both economic and military aid during Reagan’s first term. The U.S. State Department also believed that “Constructive Engagement” would lead over time to a regime change. U.S. policy feared a sudden revolution in South Africa as being a potential power vacuum, opening the door to a Marxist, Soviet-backed regime, like that in Angola.
Read more about this topic: Constructive Engagement
Famous quotes containing the words cold war, influence of, influence, cold and/or war:
“The Cold War began with the division of Europe. It can only end when Europe is whole.”
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“Half-opening her lips to the frost’s morning sigh, how strangely the rose has smiled on a swift-fleeting day of September!
How audacious it is to advance in stately manner before the blue-tit fluttering in the shrubs that have long lost their leaves, like a queen with the spring’s greeting on her lips;
to bloom with steadfast hope that, parted from the cold flower-bed, she may be the last to cling, intoxicated, to a young hostess’s breast.”
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