ABSTRACT
On Thursday evening, October 13, 1983, Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was placed under house arrest by a dissident faction within his People's Revolutionary Government. Bishop's forced confinement, followed only six days later by his murder on "Bloody Wednesday," would set the stage for President Ronald W. Reagan's decision to launch the invasion of Grenada. As with any major foreign policy decision, the Reagan administration decision in October of 1983 to launch Operation "Urgent Fury" poses a variety of intriguing questions. By Thursday evening, October 27, President Reagan could tell a national television audience that US forces on Grenada were "in the mopping-up phase." Although hostilities on Grenada officially ceased on November 2, 1983, it would take some time before an accurate accounting of the American use of force there could be made." In the presidential election of 1980, Ronald Reagan campaigned effectively on foreign policy issues, particularly on those related to such "crisis" areas as Central America and the Caribbean.
