[263] In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to protect the United States from space intercontinental ballistic missiles. He believed that this defense shield could protect the country from nuclear destruction.[264] There was much disbelief surrounding the program's scientific feasibility, leading opponents to dub the SDI "Star Wars",[265] though Soviet leader Yuri Andropov said it would lead to "an extremely dangerous path".[266]
In a 1982 address to the British Parliament, Reagan said, "the march of freedom and democracy ... will leave Marxism–Leninism on the ash heap of history."[267] David Cannadine says of Margaret Thatcher that "Reagan had been grateful for her interest in him at a time when the British establishment refused to take him seriously" with the two agreeing on "building up stronger defenses against Soviet Russia" and both believing in outfacing "what Reagan would later call 'the evil empire'"[268] in reference to the Soviet Union during a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in March 1983.[232] After Soviet fighters downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in September, which included Larry McDonald and 61 other Americans, Reagan expressed outrage towards the Soviet Union.