Evil Empire speech

Last updated

Evil Empire speech
President Ronald Reagan addresses the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida.jpg
Reagan in the Citrus Crown Ballroom
DateMarch 8, 1983 (1983-03-08)
VenueSheraton Twin Towers Hotel
Location Orlando, Florida, U. S.
Participants Ronald Reagan
Wikisource-logo.svg The full text of the speech at Wikisource

The "Evil Empire" speech was a speech delivered by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983 at the height of Cold War and Soviet-Afghan War. In that speech, Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and as "the focus of evil in the modern world". Reagan explicitly rejected the notion that the United States and the Soviet Union were equally responsible for the Cold War and the ongoing nuclear arms race between the two nations; rather, he asserted that the conflict was a battle between good and evil.

Contents

Background

Reagan's chief speechwriter at the time, Anthony R. Dolan, coined the phrase "evil empire" for Reagan's use. [1] Dolan included similar language in a draft for Reagan's June 1982 speech before the British House of Commons in London, but reviewers flagged and struck the phrasing. [2] Dolan included the phrase "evil empire" in drafts for Reagan's speech at the National Association of Evangelicals' 41st annual convention. [3] White House staffers who saw drafts of the speech, including David Gergen, repeatedly struck the "evil empire" portion; the speech eventually reached Regan with the "evil empire" portion included, staffer critics concluding the event would be minor and unlikely to attract attention. [4]

When Reagan reviewed and edited the draft himself, he extended the material on domestic matters. [4] Dolan had included a reference to "abortion on demand" as a "great moral evil"; Reagan cut the line and added a remark asserting that "until it can be proven that the unborn child is not a living entity" its "right to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness must be protected". [5] Regan left the "evil empire" phrase and did not substantially alter the draft's strongly anti-communist tone. [6]

Speech

Reagan spoke at the 41st annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, in the Citrus Crown Ballroom of the Sheraton Twin Towers Hotel in Orlando, Florida. [7] The speech, marking his first recorded use of the phrase "evil empire" to refer to the Soviet Union, has become known as the "Evil Empire" speech. In that speech, Reagan said: [8] [9]

Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness—pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world .... So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

The audience applauded Reagan's speech. [10]

In the "Evil Empire" speech, which also dealt with domestic issues, Reagan made the case for deploying NATO nuclear-armed intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Western Europe as a response to the Soviets installing new nuclear-armed missiles in Eastern Europe. Eventually, the NATO missiles were set up and used as bargaining chips in arms talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who took office two years and three days after Reagan's speech, on 11 March 1985. At the Washington Summit in 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to go further than a nuclear freeze. In an Atomic Age first, they signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, agreeing to reduce nuclear arsenals. Intermediate- and shorter-range nuclear missiles were eliminated. [11]

Historian John Lewis Gaddis called the speech the "complet[ion of] a rhetorical offensive designed to expose what Reagan saw as the central error of détente: the idea that the Soviet Union had earned geopolitical, ideological, economic, and moral legitimacy" and argued that it "could not have been better calculated to feed the anxieties" afflicting Soviet leadership at the time. [12]

Global reaction and aftermath

During a 1984 presidential debate, Reagan reiterated the phrase by saying "I have said on a number of occasions exactly what I believe about the Soviet Union, I retract nothing that I have said, I believe that many of the things that they have done are evil in any concept of morality that we have."

In 1987, American conservative Michael Johns compiled a list of Soviet crimes, echoing Reagan by saying "what we face today in Soviet Communism is, indeed, an evil empire". [13]

The Soviet Union, for its part, alleged that the United States was an imperialist superpower seeking to dominate the entire world, and that the Soviet Union was fighting against it "in the name of humanity". In Moscow, the Soviet state-run press agency TASS said the "evil empire" words demonstrated that the Reagan administration "can think only in terms of confrontation and bellicose, lunatic anti-communism". [14]

During his second term in office, in May–June 1988, more than five years after using the term "evil empire", Reagan visited the new reformist General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Moscow. When asked by a reporter whether he still thought the Soviet Union was an evil empire, Reagan responded that he no longer did, and that when he used the term it was "another time, another era". [15]

The term has also been alluded to in reference to the domestic politics of the United States itself. American conservative journalist Pat Buchanan argued that Russia's President Vladimir Putin implied that the United States under the Obama administration deserved the title in the 21st century, and furthermore argued that Putin had a good case for doing so because of American views on abortion and same-sex marriage (that was criminalized in the Soviet Union), pornography, promiscuity and the general panoply of Hollywood values. [16] Buchanan served as White House Communications Director for President Reagan from 1985 to 1987.

According to G. Thomas Goodnight, the "evil empire" speech, along with the "Zero Option" and "Star Wars" speeches, was part of the rhetorical side of the Cold War and reshaped public perceptions of nuclear warfare. [17] In the former, Reagan depicted nuclear warfare as an extension of an "age old struggle between good and evil" [18] By characterizing the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and therefore irrational and untrustworthy, the speech justified demurrals on peace proposals. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty</span> 1972 arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union

The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, also known as the ABM Treaty or ABMT, was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ballistic missile-delivered nuclear weapons. It was intended to reduce pressures to build more nuclear weapons to maintain deterrence. Under the terms of the treaty, each party was limited to two ABM complexes, each of which was to be limited to 100 anti-ballistic missiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)</span> Period prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union

The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991 spans the period from the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev's death until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Due to the years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, and complex systemic problems in the command economy, Soviet output stagnated. Failed attempts at reform, a standstill economy, and the success of the proxies of the United States against the Soviet Union's forces in the war in Afghanistan led to a general feeling of discontent, especially in the Soviet-occupied Baltic countries and Eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Gorbachev</span> Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 and additionally as head of state beginning in 1988, as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990 and the only President of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Ideologically, Gorbachev initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism but moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Reagan</span> President of the United States from 1981 to 1989

Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, his presidency constituted the Reagan era, and he is considered one of the most prominent conservative figures in American history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War</span> Geopolitical tension, 1945 to 1991

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, that started in 1947 and lasted to 1991.

<i>Détente</i> Relaxation of strained international relations by verbal communication

Détente is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The diplomacy term originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduce tensions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty</span> US-Soviet/Russian treaty (1987–2019)

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. The US Senate approved the treaty on 27 May 1988, and Reagan and Gorbachev ratified it on 1 June 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tear down this wall!</span> 1987 Ronald Reagan speech in West Berlin

The Berlin Wall Speech was delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. The speech is commonly known by a key line from the middle part: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had encircled West Berlin since 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Ronald Reagan</span> U.S. presidential administration from 1981 to 1989

Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over Democrat incumbent president Jimmy Carter and independent congressman John B. Anderson in the 1980 presidential election. Four years later, in the 1984 presidential election, he defeated former Democratic vice president Walter Mondale, to win re-election in a larger landslide. Due to U.S. Constitutional law, Reagan was limited to two terms and was succeeded by his vice president, George H. W. Bush, who won the 1988 presidential election. Reagan's 1980 landslide election resulted from a dramatic conservative shift to the right in American politics, including a loss of confidence in liberal, New Deal, and Great Society programs and priorities that had dominated the national agenda since the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reykjavík Summit</span> 1986 Soviet-American diplomatic summit

The Reykjavík Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 11–12 October 1986. The talks collapsed at the last minute, but the progress that had been achieved eventually resulted in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War (1979–1985)</span> Phase of the Cold War during 1979–1985

The Cold War from 1979 to 1985 was a late phase of the Cold War marked by a sharp increase in hostility between the Soviet Union and the West. It arose from a strong denunciation of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. With the election of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and American President Ronald Reagan in 1980, a corresponding change in Western foreign policy approach toward the Soviet Union was marked by the rejection of détente in favor of the Reagan Doctrine policy of rollback, with the stated goal of dissolving Soviet influence in Soviet Bloc countries. During this time, the threat of nuclear war had reached new heights not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War (1985–1991)</span> Phase of the Cold War during 1985-1991

The time period of around 1985–1991 marked the final period of the Cold War. It was characterized by systemic reform within the Soviet Union, the easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet-led bloc and the United States-led bloc, the collapse of the Soviet Union's influence in Eastern Europe, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

American foreign policy during the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) focused heavily on the Cold War which was rapidly intensifying. The US government pursued a policy of containment and rollback with regards to communist regimes. The Reagan Doctrine operationalized these goals as the United States offered financial, logistical, training, and military equipment to anti-communist opposition in Afghanistan, Angola, and Nicaragua. He expanded support to anti-communist movements in Central and Eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack F. Matlock Jr.</span> American diplomat (born 1929)

Jack Foust Matlock Jr. is an American former ambassador, career Foreign Service Officer, teacher, historian, and linguist. He was a specialist in Soviet affairs during some of the most tumultuous years of the Cold War, and served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991.

Trust, but verify is a Russian proverb, which is rhyming in Russian. The phrase became internationally known in English after Suzanne Massie, a scholar of Russian history, taught it to Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, the latter of whom used it on several occasions in the context of nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony R. Dolan</span> American journalist

Anthony R. Dolan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and was a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan from March 1981 until the end of Reagan's second term in 1989. Dolan served as the Director of Special Research and Issues and in the Office of Research and Policy at the Headquarters of the Reagan-Bush Committee. Under the name Tony Dolan he had been, for a time, a conservative folk-singer who put out the album "Cry, The Beloved Country" and appeared on The Merv Griffin Show.

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Previously, he was the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and acted in Hollywood films from 1937 to 1964, the same year he energized the American conservative movement. Reagan's basic foreign policy was to equal and surpass the Soviet Union in military strength, and put it on the road to what he called "the ash heap of history". By 1985, he began to cooperate closely with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whom he became friends and negotiated large-scale disarmament projects with. The Cold War was fading away and suddenly ended as the Soviets lost control of Eastern Europe almost overnight in October 1989, nine months after Reagan was replaced in the White House by his vice president, George H. W. Bush, who was following Reagan's policies. The dissolution of the Soviet Union took place in December 1991. In terms of the Reagan Doctrine, he promoted military, financial, and diplomatic support for anti-communist insurgencies in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and numerous other countries. For the most part, local communist power collapsed when the Soviet Union collapsed.

The "Zero Option" was the name given to an American proposal for the withdrawal of all Soviet and United States intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. This term was subsequently expanded to describe the vision of eliminating all nuclear weapons everywhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geneva Summit (1985)</span> Meeting of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev

The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It was held on November 19 and 20, 1985, between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helsinki Summit (1990)</span> Meeting between George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in Helsinki on 9 September 1990

The Helsinki Summit was a private, bilateral meeting between American President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that took place in Helsinki, Finland on September 9, 1990. Due to the vested interests of both the Soviet Union and the United States in the Gulf Crisis' resolution, August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was the primary topic of discussion for the leaders during the Helsinki Summit. The concerted efforts at easing American-Soviet tensions in the aftermath of the Cold War was another prominent topic, among other notable current events. At the summit's conclusion, Presidents Bush and Gorbachev produced a document of joint statements that illuminated the areas in which the leaders had committed to aligning their foreign policy goals. The summit was followed by a press conference wherein members of the media questioned Presidents Bush and Gorbachev about the content of their meeting and the justifications for their joint statements.

References

  1. ↑ "'The Battle of the Evil Empire', by Frank Warner, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa., March 5, 2000". Frankwarner.typepad.com. December 4, 2003. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ Peterson (2010 , p. 126).
  3. ↑ Schlesinger (2008 , pp. 327–328).
  4. 1 2 Schlesinger (2008 , p. 328).
  5. ↑ Schlesinger (2008 , pp. 328–329).
  6. ↑ Schlesinger (2008 , p. 329).
  7. ↑ Jones (2018 , p. 161).
  8. ↑ "Ronald Reagan, Address to the National Association of Evangelicals ("Evil Empire Speech")". Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project. University of Maryland, College Park. March 8, 1983. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  9. ↑ "President Reagan's Speech Before the National Association of Evangelicals". The Reagan Information Page. March 8, 1983. Archived from the original on June 9, 2004. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ Goodnight (1986 , p. 401).
  11. ↑ Kramer, Andrew E.; Specia, Megan (February 1, 2019). "What Is the I.N.F. Treaty and Why Does It Matter?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  12. ↑ Gaddis (2005 , pp. 224–225).
  13. ↑ Johns, Michael (October 2, 2019). "Seventy Years of Evil". Policy Review.
  14. ↑ "President Ronald Reagan". Britannica.com. June 12, 1987. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  15. ↑ Meisler, Stanley (June 1, 1988). "Reagan Recants 'Evil Empire' Description". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  16. ↑ Pat Buchanan (December 17, 2013). "Is Putin One of Us?". Townhall . Archived from the original on August 6, 2014.
  17. ↑ Goodnight (1986 , pp. 390–3891, 408–409).
  18. ↑ Goodnight (1986 , p. 391).
  19. ↑ Goodnight (1986 , p. 403).

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.