Ronald Reagan: SDI

SDI or Strategic Defense Initiative
On March 23, 1983 during Ronald Reagan's Presidency, Reagan launched a program called SDI otherwise known as, "Star Wars". During the time of the Cold War there was a significant fear of nuclear missiles especially from the Soviet Union. The operation of this program was to create an anti- ballistic missile system in order to defend the nation from incoming nuclear missiles. This defense system would ideally be able to defend the nation from a ballistic nuclear attack. This concept was seen as very far- fetched in the eyes of the public. The program was expected to chew up as much as 30 billion dollars and the technology to create such a defense device was not even in existence. SDI was eventually abandoned after being ruled an idealistic and nearly impossible task. One of the main reasons this program was shut down is that this program was seen as a threat by the Soviet Union due to the fact that it violated the S.A.L.T Treaty originally created with the USSR. Eventually this idealistic program died out and became only a small historical footnote.