How did US foreign policy change after 1981?

1981 marked the beginning of the presidency of Ronald
Reagan. Reagan, along with his Secretary of State George Schulz formed their own brand
of American foreign policy. One characterized by "peace through
strength” and an eventual end to the Cold
War.

Specifically, the centerpiece of this new policy was
the Reagan Doctrine. The Regan Doctrine was defined as a
more aggressive stance on Soviet proxies around the world. The Soviet Union at the time
was providing extensive political and financial support to many emerging nations in
Africa, Asia and Latin America; these were known as proxy
nations.

Prior to 1981 the U.S had a policy of
containment concerning these nations. This meant that the
U.S was content to allow these nations to continue their relationship with the USSR, so
long as their socialist tendencies did not continue to
spread.

However in 1981 with the rise of the Reagan
Doctrine the U.S sought to roll back the Soviet influence
in these nations, and replace them with America's own brand of capitalism and democracy.
To achieve this Reagan allowed for increased operations, such as supporting regime
change and occasionally more aggressive covert or overt military
action.