The Political Legacy of Ronald Reagan in Central-Eastern Europe

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is twofold. In the first part I will focus on President Reagan’s political legacy in Hungary revealing what political and social ties were between the United States and Hungary during the Reagan administration. Furthermore, in the light of significant shifts in the political activity of Ronald Reagan’s two-term office, it will be examined how it influenced people’s judgment about his character in Central-Eastern Europe in the last stage of the Cold War. The purpose of the second part is to investigate facts and evidence of the Reaganean foreign policy that led to the peaceful transition of the former Soviet satellite countries from communism into democracy.