PRESIDENT REAGAN'S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD

Was Ronald Reagan a Good President?

President Reagan's International Human Rights Record

President Reagan's International Human Rights Record

The Cold War and Apartheid

On September 26, 1986, President Ronald Reagan (1986) sent a message to the House of Representatives that he would not sign into law H.R. 4868 because it imposed punitive economic sanctions against South Africa as a whole. His stated rationale was that the people most affected by the sanctions would be the Black workers, not the ruling White elite. Reagan agreed that apartheid needed to end, but not at the expense of those already suffering the most under White rule. On the surface this logic seems admirable, even honorable, but others have questioned Reagan's motives. Although Reagan did not use the exact phrase "constructive engagement," this term would come to represent his policy stance towards apartheid. Reagan's message to the House followed...
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