Every president after the second world war had a semi-official “doctrine,” essentially a guiding principle for his foreign policy. Some announced the United States would not involve itself in the world’s affairs; others, like Carter, went the opposite route, proclaiming they are duty-bound to protect Afghanistan and the Middle-East against communist influence. Reagan fell into the camp of the latter, continuing and largely expanding the Carter Doctrine to include the world over. Reagan would provide American financial – and at times military – assistance to far-flung nations: Angola, Nicaragua, Cambodia, and of course Afghanistan.

On this day, February 6, in 1985, Reagan outline his “doctrine” in a State of the Union speech to Congress. “Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few; it is the universal right of all God’s children,” he said, and America had a mission to “nourish and defend freedom and democracy.”

Though the speech got wide coverage, nobody yet called it a “doctrine.” The term “Reagan Doctrine” itself did not appear in print for another two months, until an essay with that name, by Charles Krauthammer, appeared in TIME Magazine.