While war weary Americans elected Eisenhower in the 50s to end international military activity, Americans of the 80s were moved by Ronald Reagan's willingness to make a strong military stand as well as his promise to pull America out of economic recession. In his 1980 campaign, Reagan espoused a hawkish position, criticizing Jimmy Carter's failure to secure the release of American hostages in Iran. Reagan won by a landslide, and used his first term in office to toughen America's foreign policy against the "evil empire" of communism. As Reagan supported construction of an expensive "Star Wars" missile defense system, arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union stalled.

Reagan saw the triumph of his policies in the last years of his presidency. In his second term in office, Reagan's administration continued a military defense build up in the United States. And in December of 1987, Reagan was credited with ending the Cold War as he signed an arms control agreement with Mikhail Gorbachev.