at attacking missiles) would be created around the United States preventing any nuclear warheads from impacting. Called by critics, “Star Wars,” Reagan is often ridiculed for the program, because of its seemed malfeasance. Even according to some of those in or close to the Reagan administration, the SDI initiative was never really technically feasible. Americans were comforted by the defense system probably because it seemingly provided an almost invincibility during a nuclear attack. “Reagan viewed SDI as a defensive shield that would contribute to world peace by eliminating the dangers of nuclear war.” The announcement of this program, and the huge sums of money being poured into the military, frightened the Soviets, because they did not have the technology readily available or the money to fund an arms race. The Soviet economy was on the downturn and in addition to not having the money to support an arms race, they were unable to take their focus away from their own domestic problems. But to many, the entire SDI initiative was a “fog job;” an elaborate scheme to simply fool the Soviets. Caspar Weinberger said of SDI, “It was a big factor in ending the Cold War, because the Soviets saw, correctly, that while they might not be able to do it, we almost certainly could, and that would render impotent a huge amount of their military advantage.”Despite his best efforts in trying to intimidate the Soviet Union through increased military funding, new technologies, and through powerful rhetoric, what Reagan really needed was luck. His tactics really had no effect on the Soviet government under Brezhnev, nor under Andropov. But, when Gorbachev came to power everything changed. Political analyst Stuart Spencer supports this opinion, “It didn’t work with Brezhnev because he was an old man; it didn’t work with Andropov because he was sick. But Reagan was lucky– he...
