At the start of the Cold War, Americans largely understood that it was at its core a struggle between two opposing worldviews: freedom and tyranny. From Kennan’s Long Telegram to NSC-68, it was clear that the United States was not just fighting for territory or economic interests, but the Western principles of human dignity, individual liberty, faith, and democracy. Yet as the Cold War approached its fourth decade, that resolve had begun to wane. As President Ronald Reagan stood before the British Parliament on June 8, 1982, his task was twofold—revive the belief that freedom was worth fighting for and provide a concrete strategy for how to win.

Reagan acknowledged the forces of freedom faced daunting challenges. The Soviet Union was a formidable foe that had encouraged and enabled totalitarianism around the world. Yet in spite of this, Reagan made the case that freedom and democracy were not just worth preserving in the West, but “[i]n the Communist world as well, man’s instinctive desire for freedom and self-determination surfaces again and again.” Reagan understood that as deadly as communist repression was, it was also a sign of decay and instability. The virtues of the West—self-determination, religious liberty, and free speech—contained far more universal appeal.

But for freedom to prevail, Reagan understood a new strategy was needed, one that took the fight to totalitarian regimes. Democracy, after all, was “not a fragile flower; still, it needs cultivating…we must take actions to assist the campaign for democracy.” Reagan noted that ever since the Soviet Union’s founding, it had given training and assistance to communists, and it was time for the forces of freedom to provide a response. Reagan called on the United States and Western democracies to “foster the infrastructure of democracy….which allows a people to choose their own way, to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.” Out of this call, Congress created the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), with four key institutes representing the two major American political parties, the business community, and trade unions. For the remainder of the Cold War, the NED played a vital role invigorating democratic actors behind the Iron Curtain, eventually contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the explosion of freedom and flourishing in many former communist countries.

Today, the situation again looks dire. While the Soviet Union did collapse, Reagan’s call for Marxism-Leninism to be left on the ash heap of history has not fully been realized, as today the Chinese Communist Party represents America’s greatest adversary. Furthermore, communism in Russia was replaced by another dangerous authoritarian foe, while the United States continues to face threats from Islamist regimes in the Middle East and Islamist movements that are spreading rapidly throughout the West. But Reagan is right—democracy and freedom are not fragile flowers. The United States is the proud heir and leader of a Western civilization with roots in Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, and London, and it is a civilization that remains worth fighting to preserve today.