ABSTRACT
When Ronald Reagan became American president in January 1981 the prospects for US-Soviet relations looked bleak. The administration of his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, had begun with a desire to build effective ties but had ended with the Americans imposing a grain embargo and a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In addition, there were significant increases in US defence expenditure. Reagan's anti-communist rhetoric and arguments for even greater military spending only added to an atmosphere that led many to describe the 1980s as witnessing a new Cold War. All this put strains on American relations with their European allies. A decade later the world had been transformed with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the demise of the Soviet Union. The administrations of Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) and George H.W Bush (1989–1993) played pivotal roles in these changes. Three secretaries of state served in this era: Alexander M. Haig (January 1981-July 1982), George P. Shultz (July 1982-January 1989) and James A. Baker (January 1989-August 1992). They were three very different men in talents, knowledge of international affairs and feel for diplomacy, and in their use of the State Department.
