Ronald Reagan

[smc]

Originally Posted by ila

As with any topic there is more than one view. I think the Soviet Union was more the aggressor in the post WWII world. Stalin's policies of occupying European countries and setting up puppet governments was seen as provocative by the west. The attempt to cut off Berlin was a continuation of Stalin's attempts to dominate Europe.

Just to be clear, I was speaking only of the arms race and the specific dynamic of this or that new weapon (system), followed by catch-up, ad infinitum. I was not speaking generally of being an "agressor," although one could certainly make an argument for their being a bit more equality of aggression between the two Cold War sides, with one's aggression a bit more blatant (i.e., your references to European countries and Stalin) and another's a bit more subtle (i.e., the U.S. in Latin America and Southeast Asia).