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US officials say that President Bush senior's policies set the stage for peace, turning El Salvador into a democratic success story.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1891145.stm] There was substantial developmental aid during the Carter administration but very little military. The Reagan administration pressed for free elections. The Salvadoran right reluctantly joined this process after it became clear that the administration did not favor a conservative military coup.<ref>Library of Congress. Country Studies. El Salvador. Chapter 1 - Historical Setting [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/svtoc.html]</ref>
Defenders also justify military aid by claiming it was necessary for defending U.S. National Security Interests. The FMLN guerrillas military efforts, including terrorist acts committed by them, seriously threatened the Salvadoran government. This was deemed a threat to "national security." As president Reagan argued in his historic national television address in 1984, ''"San Salvador is closer to Houston, Texas than Houston is to Washington, D.C. Central America is America; it's at our doorstep. And it has become a stage for a bold attempt by the Soviet Union, Cuba and Nicaragua to install communism by force throughout the hemisphere,"''<ref>Regan Ronald, televised address to the nation, May 9, 1984 from El Salvador:Central America in the New Cold War, Gettleman, Lacefield, Menashe and Mermelstein, eds, Grove Press, New York</ref>. The U.S. State Department provided detailed evidence for the links between the FMLN, Nicaragua, Cuba and the Soviet Union in its White Paper,"The Communist Interference in El Salvador." The document argues that the U.S. chose the most viable middle path between the right and left extremes undermining the country. The U.S. supported the Duarte government which worked with "some success to deal with the serious political and economic problem that most concern the people of El Salvador."<ref>The U.S. State Department, White Paper: Communist Interference in El Salvador from El Salvador: Central America in the New Cold War, Gettleman, Lacefield, Menashe, Mermelstein, eds, Grove Press New York, p.323 </ref> Military aid and training given to Salvador eventually professionalized their armed forces and prevented the insurrection by guerrillas from succeeding. The death of many innocent civilians is regarded as regrettable but necessary for Salvadoran and American security, and future prosperity.{{Fact|date=March 2008}}
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