ABSTRACT
Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States in November 1980, after an election campaign that rejected détente and disarmament. Reagan was convinced that Presidents Ford and Carter had been negligent in the security of the United States and that the Soviet Union had achieved not parity of nuclear arms but superiority. He was lambasted for his simplicity of approach to foreign affairs but many warmed to his simple homespun philosophy of American good versus Soviet evil.
