Part of a long-term effort to dislodge communists from the Western Hemisphere, President Reagan’s 1984 invasion of Grenada was ostensibly undertaken to rescue American medical students studying on the Caribbean island following the overthrow of Maurice Bishop’s government. The major concern, however, was the building of the Point Salines airport by Cubans. Instability came to the island following a coup by General Hudson Austin, one consequence of the US blockade that had weakened the Bishop government, and forced him to turn increasingly to Castro for aid. The invasion was a diplomatically difficult mission as Grenada was a former British colony and the assault was condemned by the United Nations. But it proved an easy operation even for the Pentagon at that time; the US Army quickly deposed Austin and established a new government. It also established new limits on media coverage which would create problems for the flow of information in the Gulf War. The medical students were saved, too.