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Reagan spoke softly (sometimes) and carried a Big Stick. Some significant foreign policy events dujring his Presidency:

1981

01/20/1981--52 American hostages in Iran released in exchange for ending trade sanctions

04/24/1981--Lifts Soviet grain embargo in order to help America farmers; still condemning the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

10/02/1981--Announces Strategic Weapons Renewal program. Includes deploying 100 B-1 bombers as soon as possible; completing MX missile program.

11/18/1981--In Remarks to the National Press Club, discloses that he has sent a handwritten letter to Russian President Brezhnev of Russia in hopes for better relations, affirms his commitment to the Atlantic Alliance. Announces proposed mutual reduction of convention intermediate-range nuclear and strategic forces.

12/27/1981--Condemns Soviet Forceful Occupation of Afghanistan

12/29/1981--Imposes sanctions on Poland and the USSR. Says blame lies heavily with Soviet Union.

1982

03/10/1982--Enforces embargo on Libyan oil imports, due to Libyan support of terrorism

05/31/1982--Announces Negotiations between US and Soviet Union in Geneva

06/08/1982--Addresses UK House of Common, where he remarks that Communism will end up on the “ash heap of history”

08/25/1982--Marines arrive in Lebanon to help manage conflict between Israel and Lebanon

1983

04/18/1983--Terrorist Attack on US embassy in Beirut, kills 17 US foreign service personnel and more than 40 Lebanese.

05/17/1983--Lebanon, Israel, and the United States agree to a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

09/01/1983--Korean Air Flight 007 Shot Down after Pilot Accidentally Flies into Soviet Airspace, all 269 passengers are killed and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union rise dramatically.

10/23/1983--Suicide bomber drives a truck into US military barracks in Lebanon, killing 241 military personnel.

10/25/1983--United States Invades Grenada, seeks to respond to the request of six other Caribbean nations and to rescue American students living on the island.

12/19/1983--Sends Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld to meet President Saddam Hussein in effort to normalize relations with Iraq.

1984

02/08/1984--United States Bombs Syrian Controlled Area in Lebanon, in retaliation for prior Syrian attack.

04/04/1984--Calls for an international ban on chemical weapons following Iraqi use of mustard gas on the Iranians.

10/30/1984--Signs the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, which creates a negotiating authority for both the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement as well as the US-Israel Free Trade agreement.

1985

03/01/1985--Remarks to the Conservative Political Action Committee. Famous line: “. . . the freedom fighters of Nicaragua. You know the truth about them. You know who they're fighting and why. They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance. We cannot turn away from them, for the struggle here is not right versus left; it is right versus wrong.”

03/11/1985--Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party, giving Americans hope for successful negotiations with a younger leader.

05/01/1985--Issues Executive Order 12513 imposing an embargo on imports from Nicaragua, due to aggressive acts from the Sandinista government and links with the Soviet Union.

05/05/1985--Remarks at Bitburg Air Base, Germany. Followed a visit to the military cemetery with German war dead including members of the SS. His remarks included this passage: “Well, today freedom-loving people around the world must say: I am a Berliner. I am a Jew in a world still threatened by anti-Semitism. I am an Afghan, and I am a prisoner of the Gulag. I am a refugee in a crowded boat foundering off the coast of Vietnam. I am a Laotian, a Cambodian, a Cuban, and a Miskito Indian in Nicaragua. I, too, am a potential victim of totalitarianism.”

06/14/1985--Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, Hijacks a Flight Bound to Rome, and kills a Navy Seal onboard as well as taking other individuals hostage.

07/13/1985--Announces planned summit meeting with Gorbachev in November, in Geneva, Switzerland.

09/09/1985--Executive Order 12532 imposes trade sanctions on South Africa.

11/19/1985 – 11/21/1985--Reagan and Gorbachev Meet At the Geneva Summit. This was the first of several summits between the leaders; the first US/USSR summit since 1979. This session was at the Chateau Fleur d’Eau which featured a very large fireplace. The two leaders were photographed in affable conversation in large easy chairs in front of the fireplace—thus, “the fireside summit.”

1986

04/16/1986--Report to Congress on 04/14/1986 Air Strike Against Libya, responding to their government sponsorship of terrorist activities.

04/30/1986--White House statement about 04/24/1986 explosion at Chernobyl Power Plant which killed 31 people and spread radiation as far as Sweden.

06/27/1986--The International Court of Justice Rules that the United States Violates International Law by Aiding Contras.

09/26/1086--Vetoes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, which was intended to encourage South Africa to end apartheid; argues that the Act harms those it intends to help.

10/01/1986--Signs the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, which drastically altered the command structure of the United States military.

10/02/1986--Signs the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 passed over his veto. “Our administration will, nevertheless, implement the law. It must be recognized, however, that this will not solve the serious problems that plague that country.”

10/11/1986 – 10/12/1986--Reagan and Gorbachev Meet at the Reykjavik Summit in Iceland. Talks failed when Reagan refused to compromise on the Strategic Defense Initiative.

10/18/1986--Signs Appropriations Act authorizing aid for the Contras (a rebel guerilla group opposing the Sandinista government of Nicaragua ) under certain conditions not to include military advice or training.

10/22/1986--Signs Memorandum certifying that the Contras meet the conditions for aid.

11/03/1986--Iran-Contra Affair becomes publicly known for the first time.

11/13/1986--Address to the Nation on Iran Arms and Contra Aid controversy. “We did not—repeat—did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.”

11/25/1986--Announces Review of National Security Council’s role in Iran-Contra Affair. “This report led me to conclude that I was not fully informed on the nature of one of the activities undertaken in connection with this initiative.”

12/02/1986--Address to the Nation on the Investigation of Iran-Contra. Requests appointment of an independent counsel. “If illegal acts were undertaken, those who did so will be brought to justice.”

1987

03/04/1987--Address to the Nation on Iran-Contra. “A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.”

05/17/1987--USS Stark attacked in Persian Gulf (later attributed to Iraq).

06/12/1987--Visits West Berlin. In speaking at the wall, Reagan says “Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

1988

01/02/1988--Signs United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement.

01/06/1988--Signs Executive Order to Assist the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance.