Excerpt from Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Supporting the Contras, 1984
Central America is a region of great importance to the United States. And it is so close: San Salvador is closer to Houston, Texas, than Houston is to Washington, DC. Central America is America. It's at our doorstep, and it's become the stage for a bold attempt by the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua to install communism by force throughout the hemisphere. . . .
Right now in El Salvador, Cuban-supported aggression has forced more than 400,000 men, women, and children to flee their homes. And in all of Central America, more than 800,000 have fled—many, if not most, living in unbelievable hardship. Concerns about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Communist oppression to seek entry into our country are well-founded.
What we see in El Salvador is an attempt to destabilize the entire region and eventually move chaos and anarchy toward the American border. . . .
Use the excerpt from Reagan's speech on support for the Contras to answer the question.
Using Reagan’s speech on the Contras, answer (a), (b), and (c).
In 1–2 sentences, explain the primary purpose of this speech.
In 2–3 sentences, describe the measures Congress had taken in response to the above.
In 1–2 sentences, identify the ultimate actions taken by the Reagan administration in response to the issues presented.
(a) The primary purpose of this speech is to argue for supporting the Contras in their fight against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, as part of the larger effort to prevent the spread of communism in Central America.
(b) Congress had imposed restrictions on the Reagan administration's ability to provide funding to the Contras, due to concerns about human rights abuses and the effectiveness of the Contras' tactics.
(c) The Reagan administration ultimately pursued a covert campaign to provide support to the Contras, including selling arms to Iran and using some of the proceeds to fund the Contras. This became known as the Iran-Contra Affair and was a major political scandal.