ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that how Reagan actively involved himself in the legislative battle to try and convince these legislators to vote in favour of his Contra policy. It explores the argument that Reagan's worldview was crucial to the decision to rank Nicaragua as a major security threat and played a key role in the framing of Nicaragua as a Soviet-controlled proxy. Reagan's Nicaragua policy has received an intense amount of scholarly interest as a result of the Iran-Contra affair. Reagan viewed Nicaragua through the narrow filters of his anti-communism and as a result rated it as one of the most serious foreign and security policies facing his administration. The choice of Nicaragua also allows a detailed analysis of the relationship between the president and congress in US foreign policy-making. Reagan administration was confronted with the reality of formulating foreign policy in the post-Vietnam environment.
