In the 1980s, three people dominated the propaganda agenda in the Cold War. The first is US President Ronald Reagan, a staunch anti-Communist who would do anything to denounce it while putting the US in a positive light. He wanted to look tough, especially through a military build-up since he believed the Soviets far out-muscled the Americans militarily. But his propaganda changed as world issues around him changed, most specifically Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov inviting Maine schoolgirl Samantha Smith to the Soviet Union for a goodwill visit, and the Soviet military shooting down a commercial jet in Soviet airspace. The second is Polish national Pope John Paul II. His succession to Pope was at a tenuous time in Poland. But his anti-Communist stance allowed Lech Walesa and Solidarity to rise in Poland. However, the Communists would not go down in Poland without a fight, which was led by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. And the third is Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Despite being a Communist, his growing up period during Stalin's reign shaped his view that Communism should be transparent, which was dubbed glasnost. Although Gorbachev was viewed with great esteem worldwide, he was viewed less so by the Soviet peoples who saw that the propaganda did not match their reality.
