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 influence of, influence, cold and/or war:
“We can trace almost all the disasters of English history to the influence of Wales.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
“For character too is a process and an unfolding ... among our valued friends is there not someone or other who is a little too self confident and disdainful; whose distinguished mind is a little spotted with commonness; who is a little pinched here and protruberent there with native prejudices; or whose better energies are liable to lapse down the wrong channel under the influence of transient solicitations?”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Black pit cold and light-year
Flame tongue of the dragon
Licks the sun
The sun is but a morning star”
—Gary Snyder (b. 1930)
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)