Reagan Considered Invading Poland, Author Says

Interesting:

(CNSNews.com) - Just a few weeks before assuming the presidency in January 1981, Ronald Reagan seriously considered the idea of using military force to prevent a Soviet invasion of Poland, according to a political scientist.

Reagan discussed the possibility of deploying U.S. forces in Poland with his incoming defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, says Paul Kengor, a political science professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.

The discussions took place after pre-inauguration security meetings, which highlighted the precarious position Poland was in at the time, Kengor told Cybercast News Service in an interview.

Reagan ultimately decided it was not possible to use U.S. troops in Eastern Europe, since the military had been so "gutted" during the 1970s by then-President Carter, he added.

The details of Reagan's meetings with Weinberger and other key figures such as William Clark, who became national security advisor, are detailed in Kengor's new book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.

When it became evident the U.S. was too ill-equipped to confront the Soviets militarily, Kengor writes in the book, Reagan settled on alternative strategies that included forging a partnership with the Vatican, and in particular with Polish-born Pope John Paul II.

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(emphasis added)