Editing Ronald Reagan (section)

===Addressing apartheid===
[[File:Reagan with Desmond TutuC26199-10.jpg|thumb|alt=Reagan and Desmond Tutu shaking hands in the Oval Office, 1984|Shortly after the 1984 election, Reagan met [[Desmond Tutu]], who described Reagan's administration as "an unmitigated disaster for us blacks",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gish |first=Steven |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55208501 |title=Desmond Tutu : a biography |date=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-32860-9 |location=Westport, Conn. |oclc=55208501}}</ref> and Reagan himself as "a racist pure and simple".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=John |title=Rabble-rouser for peace : the authorized biography of Desmond Tutu |publisher=Rider |date=2006 |isbn=1-84413-571-3 |location=London |oclc=70672522 |page=255}}</ref>]]

Popular opposition to [[apartheid]] increased during Reagan's first term in office and the [[disinvestment from South Africa]] movement achieved critical mass after decades of growing momentum. Criticism of apartheid was particularly strong on college campuses and among [[mainline Protestant]] denominations.<ref>{{cite news| title=Divestment Was Just One Weapon in Battle Against Apartheid| last=Counte| first=Cecelie| date=January 27, 2013| url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/27/is-divestment-an-effective-means-of-protest/divestment-was-just-one-weapon-in-battle-against-apartheid| website=The New York Times| access-date=August 13, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Berger| first=Joseph| title=Protestants Seek More Divestment| date=June 10, 1986| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/10/us/protestants-seek-more-divestment.html| work=The New York Times| location=New York City|access-date=August 13, 2019| via=The Times's print archive}}</ref> President Reagan was opposed to divestiture because he personally thought, as he wrote in a letter to [[Sammy Davis Jr.]], it "would hurt the very people we are trying to help and would leave us no contact within South Africa to try and bring influence to bear on the government". He also noted the fact that the "American-owned industries there employ more than 80,000 blacks" and that their employment practices were "very different from the normal South African customs".<ref>{{cite book| editor1-last=Skinner| editor1-first=Kiron K.| editor2-last=Anderson| editor2-first=Annelise| editor3-last=Anderson| editor3-first= Martin| title=Reagan: A Life In Letters| year=2004| publisher=Free Press| location=New York City| isbn=978-0743219679| pages=520–521}}</ref>

The Reagan administration developed [[constructive engagement]]{{sfn|Thomson|2008|p=113}} with the South African government as a means of encouraging it to gradually move away from apartheid and to give up its nuclear weapons [[South Africa and weapons of mass destruction|program]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Van Wyk |first1=Martha |date=August 7, 2009 |title=Sunset over Atomic Apartheid: United States–South African nuclear relations, 1981–93 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682740902764569 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=51–79 |doi=10.1080/14682740902764569 |s2cid=218575117 |access-date=February 19, 2024}}</ref> It was part of a larger initiative designed to foster peaceful economic development and political change throughout southern Africa.<ref name=AT2008SApolicy>Thomson, pp. 106–123</ref> This policy, however, engendered much public criticism, and renewed calls for the imposition of stringent sanctions.<ref name=UngerVale>{{cite journal| last1=Ungar| first1=Sanford J.| last2=Vale| first2=Peter| title=South Africa: Why Constructive Engagement Failed | journal=Foreign Affairs| date=Winter 1985–86| volume=64| issue=2| url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-africa/1985-12-01/south-africa-why-constructive-engagement-failed| pages=234–258| doi=10.2307/20042571| jstor=20042571}}</ref> In response, Reagan announced the imposition of new sanctions on the South African government, including an [[arms embargo]] in late 1985.<ref>{{cite magazine| last=Smith| first=William E.| title=South Africa Reagan's Abrupt Reversal| url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959843,00.html| date=September 16, 1985| magazine=Time | volume=126| issue=11 |access-date=August 13, 2019}}</ref> These sanctions were seen as weak by anti-apartheid activists and as insufficient by the president's opponents in Congress.<ref name=UngerVale/> In 1986, Congress approved the [[Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act]], which included tougher sanctions; Reagan's veto was overridden by Congress. Afterward, he remained opposed to apartheid and unsure of "how best to oppose it". Several European countries, as well as Japan, also imposed their sanctions on South Africa soon after.<ref>{{cite web| last=Glass| first=Andrew| title=House overrides Reagan apartheid veto, Sept. 29, 1986| date=September 27, 2017| url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/29/house-overrides-reagan-apartheid-veto-sept-29-1986-243169| work=Politico| access-date=August 13, 2019}}</ref>