Which inference does this excerpt from President Ronald Reagan's speech

support?

The defense policy of the United States is based on a

simple premise: The United States does not start fights.

We will never be an aggressor. We maintain our strength in

order to deter and defend against aggression to preserve

freedom and peace. Since the dawn of the atomic age,

we've sought to reduce the risk of war by maintaining a

strong deterrent and by seeking genuine arms control,

Deterrence means simply this: making sure any adversary

who thinks about attacking the United States, or our allies,

or our vital interests, concludes that the risks to him

outweigh any potential gains.

- Ronald Reagan, 19832

From that statement, it can be inferred that President Reagan's doctrine was that of Deterrence.

Explanation:

Deterrence theory states that a country can become so powerful tat engaging in war with ti assures the destruction of the adversary. It can also applied to two or more countries, which means that these countries would never engage in a mutual war, because they would assure their mutual destruction.

This is exactly what happenend in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union: both countries had so much military power, and especially, nuclear power, that they preffered to avoid any direct confrontation.

What Reagan's speech is saying is that the U. S. should be so powerful, that no country on Earth would even think of starting a war with it.