When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, the Soviet Union was leading an expansionist policy in the world. There was no denial about the failure of his predecessors' policy, détente, which intended to bring together the United States and the Soviet Union for a peaceful coexistence, in which a nuclear disarmament was envisioned. The election of Reagan started a more realist attitude, which was a dual-track approach to the Soviet Union. President Reagan was eager to realize his dream about a nuclear weapons free world, but knew that the only way to achieve it led through the Soviet Union. However, the administration differentiated the nuclear question from the ongoing Soviet expansions. This led the United States to actively look for opportunities to negotiate with the Soviet Union while working against it’s influence in the global theatre. However, the 1980s was not just the last decade of the Cold War, it was the beginning of a new type of conflict for the United States: the rise of international terrorism. The Reagan presidency had to develop a program to fight this new threat as well.