ABSTRACT
Ronald Reagan lacks the political luxury of simple presidential "dissatisfaction" with the all-or-nothing final option represented in a strategy of deterrence. The reaction to Reagan's vision has been mixed. He has distracted many, and triggered spasmodic enmity among others, with his visionary portrait of sdi: of a world free of nuclear weapons. Yet strategic defenses should not be seen just as a vision. Strategic defenses should not promise the heavens or, rather, an astrodome-like roof against falling stars. New ballistic missile defense technologies seemed to promise an escape clause that had eluded former postwar presidents. The defense of the American people has always been a major presidential responsibility. Strategic defenses, with or without an orbiting component, represent a bridge between the goals of progressives and purifiers. If defenses are to satisfy cultural yearnings, they must also satisfy strategic imperatives.
