President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister

Describe the international political environment of the 1980s -- the "stage" on which these individuals were to play a critical role.

In the 1980s, the United States and Russia were still in the middle of the Cold War. President Ronald Reagan made it clear that although things had cooled some between the United States and the U.S.S.R. thanks to efforts by the Nixon administration in the early 1970s, the country was still an enemy of the United States. In January 1980, he gave a speech in which he said:

From the time of the Russian revolution until the present, Soviet leaders have reiterated their determination that their goal must be the promotion of world revolution and a one world socialist or communist state…They have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause; meaning they reserve...
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