What were the effects on US Foreign Policy?
Would start second salt peace talks with the Soviets peace and melting of the cold War. Would end due to the invasion of Afghanistan and the boycotting of Olympics games which made Carter sad. 
Israel and Egypt peace treaty 
Would force the Iranian government to be couped 
He was a large Pacifist similar to Wodwow Wilson.  Similarly was niave in politics and listened to close aids too much who argued over different topics. People would blame him for modern terror in the Muslims world
First president to get the noble peace prize for setting up an organisation to protect and criticise any human violations and negotiate peace 
Overall his presidency would be known for his weakness both foreign and domestic 


Link to summery of career 
https://youtu.be/qZn1SzWET3A

The Soviet Union invaded the small country in 1979 the current president Jimmy Carter was criticised and a ban was placed on products from the Soviet Union.

Reagan entered into office during the war and proposed his new plan to fund groups like the Mujahedeen (Taliban) a right wing extremist group. This would eventually back fire when they turned the guns on the Americans. 

Arms race

Reagan believed that if they could start spending major amounts of money on there defence budget they could force the soviet to try and keep up in turn crashing there economy.

Reagan tried to stress the Soviet economy by starting the Strategic Defense Initiative which. It was a plan to develop a missile defense system in space. The program was announced on tv by Reagan in March 1983. This was a part of the increase in military spending under Reagan

Arms limitations

Also called START it was the Strategic Arms limitation talks as they began in 1982 to limit the amount of nuclear weapons each side could have.

To the soviets they felt like a sham due to Reagan ramping up the arms race at the same time.

What was his foreign policy aims?

Regan sought to project Us strength abroad. The main goal during his presidency was winning the Cold War. Regan announced he would establish grand military buildup, as he knew the Soviet Union could not manage to do the same. At the same time Regan was preparing to discuss arms reduction (START that failed due to mistrust). 
The military defense spending initiative involved programs such as Star Wars which was to be a space missile defense  system and the new weapon development like the stealth bomber. 
By supporting anti communist rebellions, pressure was put on the USSR and it's fall became foreseeable. Regan also established good relations with Gorbachev. 

Reagan maintained stable relations with the Soviet union and he met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev several times. The two met in Geneva and Reykjavík and Reagan travelled to Moscow in 1988 to visit the USSR

How did the Soviet Union fall?
In 1991, there was a coup against Gorbachev. Planned by hard-line Communists, the coup diminished Gorbachev's power. Boris Yeltsin took over in 1991 and soon after, several Soviet Republics gained independence. Communism had fallen in Eastern Europe and the US was left as the sole global Superpower.

By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics already departing the Union and the waning of centralized power, the leaders of three of its founding members declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. Eight more republics joined their declaration shortly thereafter.

The policy of containment was a major part of US foreign policy for several decades and after the fall of the Soviet union it became obsolete. The policy of containment came at tremendous cost, billions of dollars were spent on nuclear build up instead of other services such as health and education. The policy did work in limiting the spread of communism and it won the US the cold war but came at great cost