The Plan

Ronald Reagan was convinced that capitalism was the better system. He despised communism for a number of reasons. They ranged from his belief  in capitalism and everyone working for themselves to his steadfast belief in God which the Soviets labeled at the opiate of the masses. Following his election to the Presidency he kept his campaign promise and adopted a more aggressive confrontational posture toward the Soviet Union. Part of this confrontation included a massive increase in military spending. Some of the programs that received increased funding besides the regular military were SDI(star wars) which was a space based ballistic missile defense project, also the navy was being revamped and expanded to what Reagan called 600 ship navy.  Reagan increased military spending by about 100 billion per fiscal year. This program was more than just being prepared for a war. This massive increase in military spending was a direct challenge to the USSR because the USA had a well established lead in military technology. Reagan wanted to bolster patriotism, pride, and preperation at home while scaring the Soviets.

U.S. Military Spending, 1945-1996

Annual Military Spending

(Billions of 1996 Dollars in Outlays)

1984 test of a Missile Defense project

Year	Spending	Year	Spending
1945	962.7	1971	311.7
1946	500.6	1972	289.1
1947	133.7	1973	259.5
1948	94.7	1974	243.8
1949	127.8	1975	242.0
1950	133.0	1976	234.0
1951	225.7	1977	232.7
1952	408.5	1978	233.2
1953	437.0	1979	237.4
1954	402.1	1980	246.2
1955	344.5	1981	260.8
1956	320.7	1982	282.0
1957	322.4	1983	303.2
1958	317.9	1984	318.1
1959	306.9	1985	343.7
1960	289.6	1986	363.7
1961	291.1	1987	371.1
1962	300.0	1988	372.8
1963	293.3	1989	376.2
1964	294.8	1990	358.7
1965	268.3	1991	316.5
1966	297.3	1992	328.6
1967	354.1	1993	312.1
1968	388.9	1994	290.3
1969	371.8	1995	272.1
1970	346.0	1996	265.6 (est.)