ABSTRACT
Jimmy Carter’s successor in the White House, Ronald Wilson Reagan, may have focused upon domestic issues in his inaugural address but his stance as a classic Cold Warrior was also abundantly clear. Reagan’s response to such concerns was to invite Siad Barre on an official diplomatic visit to Washington in March 1982, to discuss ways in which American-Somali relations might be further enhanced. Reagan echoed these sentiments in April, when he signed HR1239 authorising emergency famine relief aid for Africa. Notwithstanding some disagreement over the emphasis placed upon the Cold War by Reagan, both the administration and Congress agreed on the importance of consolidating the American presence in the region. Given the strategic and tactical premises that placed the Horn of Africa within the Middle East, it was not surprising that the Carter Doctrine would have far-reaching effects on policy towards Ethiopia and Somalia.
