ABSTRACT
Central America was the first foreign policy issue taken up by the incoming administration of President Ronald Reagan, and he used it to set an example of his tough new foreign policy. Congressional opposition to Reagan's policy toward Nicaragua appeared to be less tractable. The House Democrats were firmly on record against a continuation of aid for the contras, and the Republicans had failed to gain enough House seats in the election to close the margin. Reagan's aggressive hard line in Central America immediately provoked opposition in Congress, but the Democrats were in disarray in the wake of Reagan's electoral landslide and the unexpected Republican majority in the Senate. By fall 1982, the administration was presenting a new rationale to Congress: The covert war was not designed to directly interdict arms but rather to punish Nicaragua in order to pressure the Sandinistas to cease their support for the Salvadoran guerrillas.
