On May 9, Reagan delivered a prime-time address on Central America, urging Congress to act. “This Communist subversion poses the threat that 100 million people, from Panama to the open border on our south, could come under the control of pro-Soviet regimes,” he said. He also warned that the consequences could involve “hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Communist oppression.” The Democrats caved, and Congress gave the president what he wanted—$200 million in military aid, nearly two and a half times the previous year’s appropriation.
