Turning Point: How Reagan Liberated Grenada and Won the Cold War - Hardcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

JOHN BACHMAN (TEQUESTA, FLORIDA) is the host of NEWSMAX John Bachman Now and an award-winning journalist who has worked for more than two decades as a TV news producer, reporter, and anchor. He started as an intern at Fox 5 in Atlanta, then moved to WRDW in Augusta, GA, and then on to WPEC in West Palm Beach, Florida, and covered special assignments for CBS News, CNN, and Fox. Since joining NEWSMAX in 2011, Bachman has traveled throughout the United States and the world and won an award for the NEWSMAX HEROES documentary he wrote and produced, to commemorate the heroic acts of twenty-five ordinary Americans. 

The author lives with his wife, Ariel, and three children in the Boca Raton FL metro area.

For more information, visit https://www.newsmaxtv.com/n2 . 

CRAIG SHIRLEY (ESSEX COUNTY, VIRGINIA) is a presidential historian and Reagan biographer. All told, he has written eleven books including six on Ronald Reagan and the New York Times bestselling December, 1941. His wife Zorine also worked for Reagan and is now president of the Essex County Museum in Virginia. Together they enjoy sailing.

The author lives & works in the Richmond, Virginia metro area.

shirleyandmcvicker.com

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CHAPTER ONE of TURNING POINT: How Reagan Liberated Grenada and Won the Cold War by John Bachman

THE SPREAD OF MARXISM IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

The Rise of the Somoza’s and the Fall of Nicaragua

Anastacio “Tachito” Somoza found himself living in exile in Asuncion Paraguay after the collapse of his family's Nicaraguan empire. The Somoza family had ruled the country for nearly half a century but that was over now. The dynasty started with Tachito’s father. Then it was Tachito's older brother, followed by a handful of placeholder successors, before Tachito himself rose to the presidency. Over the years, the Somozas had amassed a family fortune, worth anywhere between $200-$400 million dollars. They did that, critics say, by ruling Nicaragua like it was their own personal plantation.  The last Somoza to rule Nicaragua, had been forced to flee his native country. A revolution backed by Cuban and Soviet inspired Marxists called the Sandinistas had swept across Nicaragua promising democratic reforms and an end to the country’s dictatorship. The Somoza family had benefited greatly from the support of the United States government ever since the 1930’s. The Somoza government had its flaws, of course, but above all, they were reliably anti-Communist. They had also provided a relatively stable environment, friendly to American political, military and business interests. But by the summer of 1979, revolution was underway. 

President Jimmy Carter had seen enough of the Somoza Regime in Nicaragua. The Carter administration worked with Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Venezuela, and the Organization of American States to bring about the first ever withdrawal of diplomatic recognition from an existing government - the one sliding out from under Somoza. 

Carter, and his foreign policy advisors may have been too distracted by the Iranian revolution, Arab Oil embargo, and the domestic political fallout these crises created in the United States. There were warnings and ample intelligence explaining that Fidel Castro had decided to step up his support of the Sandinistas. The rejection of Somoza government and official recognition of the Sandinistas came with promises of “genuine democracy” and a “minimal military.” Neither promise was kept by the new regime. When the United States stopped supporting Somoza it also sent a signal to our adversaries that the United States Government, President Carter, and his advisors – either wanted to avoid, or simply refused to comprehend the new international dangers looming not just in Central and South America but also in the Mideast, Africa, and Asia. 

In 1977, the State Department’s official country paper on Nicaragua described the Sandinistas as a ‘small, Marxist, Leninist, Pro-Castro terrorist group. But by 1979, they had grown into a powerful insurgency of six thousand fighters. Without support from the Americans, Somoza would lose control of the Nicaraguan National Guard, and his political power base eroded away once and for all. He fled first  for Miami. But in the eyes of Somoza’s Marxist enemies, the punishment of exile wasn’t harsh enough. They wanted something more dramatic, a permanent punishment that would garner international headlines. They wanted a death even more dramatic than the assassination of Tachito’s father.

Tachito’s father was Anastasio Somoza García. He was known as “Tacho”. He first ascended to the NIcaraguan presidency in 1937. His rapid rise to power came, thanks to a combination of generational wealth, luck, and a close affiliation with the U.S. Military. 

As was the case with other Spanish-speaking colonies in the Western Hemisphere, Nicaragua became independent in the 1820’s. And the United States, thanks to the Monroe Doctrine,  always wanted to prevent European powers from using the internal turmoil, and financial problems of Latin American countries as a reason to send their militaries into the Western Hemisphere. As a result, the U.S. Government sent American troops to maintain order and help conduct elections. The additional measure of sending in American troops in times of turmoil was consistent with the Roosevelt Corollary, issued in December of 1904, which declared that the United States would intervene as a final measure to guarantee that other nations in the Western Hemisphere met their obligations to international creditors. It also aimed to prevent these nations from violating U.S. rights or attracting "foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations."

“Tacho” Somoza was the son of a successful Nicaraguan coffee planter. The family’s wealth allowed the Somozas to send their son to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  to live with relatives and attend high school. Tacho Somoza also attended college in the U.S. and after graduating, he earned a business degree. While he lived there, Tacho met his future wife, who was a member of  an even wealthier Nicaraguan family.  Salvadora Debayle's parents were Dr. Louis Henri Debayle, of French descent, and Casimira Sacasa, the daughter of Nicaraguan President Roberto Sacasa Sarria and niece of President Juan Bautista Sacasa. Her maternal lineage connected her to one of the most distinguished and politically significant families in Nicaragua’s history. In 1919, Tacho and Casimira married in Philadelphia during a civil ceremony, without the bride's parents' knowledge. The parents did not approve of Somoza. They believe he was not worthy of  their aristocratic daughter. 

After college and business school, and his marriage Tacho returned to Nicaragua to start his own family. He joined the National Guard, and because he spoke fluent English, he became a valuable asset for the U.S. Marines, who were stationed in Nicaragua for the aforementioned reasons. The United States was also concerned about other European powers building a canal through central America - like the one the U.S. had built in Panama. 

Tacho was talented and Machiavellian. Before he was officially elected president, the Somoza patriarch successfully pulled-off a series of maneuvers that put him in a position where he could basically guarantee himself and his allies victory in any Nicaraguan election large or small. He placed his friends and family in positions of power. He ordered an assassination, staged a coup, and successfully consolidated the leadership of the country's liberal and conservative political parties into one.. 

By the late 1930’s President Franklin Roosevelt implemented a new anti-interventionist “good neighbor” policy towards Central and South American countries. This was a move away from his predecessor's more muscular attempts to leverage economic, political, or military influence in these countries to ensure the leaders were friendly to the U.S.. When Tacho Somoza staged his coup in 1934, U.S. officials urged Roosevelt to intervene, but he did nothing. By the mid 1940’s Tacho Somoza effectively had no political opposition. Fortunately for the U.S. businesses operating in the region. 

After World War II, the Somoza family profited from the government’s confiscation of land owned by the country’s small but wealthy German community. The Somoza family eventually became Nicaragua’s largest landowners. Tacho Somoza also deftly devised a succession plan - that allowed him to leave the presidency, but retain the...