The reign of fantasy: A better explanation for the Reagan Strategic Defense Initiative

Most literature written about the Reagan Strategic Defense Initiative has given little if any emphasis to the role of Ronald Reagan and his surrealistic fantasy of "rendering nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete." Most studies have implicitly assumed that at best, Reagan's fantasy was mere a side show to important strategic and technological factors which drove strategic policy. However, a review of this literature reveals that the majority involved in the strategic debate were against an increased emphasis on defense for reasons similar to those which led to abandonment of ballistic missile defense (BMD) in earlier administrations and the signing of the ABM Treaty in 1972. The nagging question which remains after reviewing this literature is if the same factors which led to the rejection of BMD earlier still held true in 1983, what explains the Reagan administration's avid pursuit of missile defense?;This study argues that contrary to what most literature written on SDI suggests, Ronald Reagan's utopian fantasy played a significant role in driving the SDI and must be accounted for in order to fully explain why this policy became the Department of Defense's top priority during the Reagan years. This was made possible due to the existence of several factors, including: the nature of presidential politics and the pressure presidents feel to respond to the utopian fantasies of the American public; the personality of Ronald Reagan himself, a man who seemed to have been driven by an optimistic faith in American utopian dreams; and the nature of bureaucratic and pork barrel politics. Reagan's fantasy was given a great boost by those aides close to the president who were willing to give lip service to the president's vision in order to pursue bureaucratic and pork barrel interests of their own. Taken together, these factors combined in a way as to allow fantasy to reign over American strategic policy for a brief interval during the Reagan presidency. This is the story of how that happened.