Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan
40th President of the United States
In office January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
Vice President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Jimmy Carter
Succeeded by	George H. W. Bush
Born	February 6, 1911 Tampico, Illinois, US
Died	June 5, 2004 (aged 93) Bel-Air, California, US
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic Party (1932-1962) Republican (1962-2004)
Spouse	Jane Wyman (1940-1948, divorced) Nancy Davis Reagan (m. 1952-2004, his death)
Relations	Jack Reagan (father) Nelle Wilson Reagan (mother) Neil Reagan (brother, dead)
Children	Maureen Reagan (dead) Christine Reagan (dead) Michael Reagan Patti Davis Ron Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan (IPA: /ˈrɒnld ˈwɪlsn ˈreɪɡən/; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th (1981-1989) President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. Reagan was also an actor in movies before entering politics. Reagan had a successful career in Hollywood as a second-rank leading man and appeared in 53 movies. He was the oldest person elected President of the United States (69 years, 349 days). He is known as the "Great Communicator" because he was a good public speaker. Reagan still remains one of the most popular presidents in American history.

Early Life

Ronald "Dutch" Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 to Jack and Nelle Reagan. He was the younger of their two sons. His brother's name was Neil. His father was a Roman Catholic, and his mother was a Protestant. While Ronald Reagan was a child, his family moved to different places in Illinois. His family was very poor and Ronald did not have much as a child because they lived through the Great Depression. In high school Reagan loved to act. He loved athletics and became a life guard who saved 77 lives.

After Reagan finished college in 1932, he became a sports announcer at WHO. He was known for being good at recreating baseball games and making them interesting. At this time all they would get is the scores so it would have been very hard for someone to come up with what happened in the game. He was fired for not telling people who the sponsors were but was quickly re-hired because they could not find anyone as good as him to re-create the baseball games. He would send some money back to his parents to help them out because it was the Great Depression.

Reagan became a somewhat famous actor, featuring in movies such as King's Row. After enjoying moderate success in the movie industry, he joined the military to fight in World War II. After the war, he never matched his previous success in acting, but since he was a good speaker, Reagan was hired to make speeches for General Electric.

Entrance Into politics

Reagan was very active in politics near the end of his acting career. Although he used to be a Democrat who strongly supported the New Deal and admired Franklin Roosevelt, over time he became a conservative Republican because he felt the federal government had too much power and authority. He made a famous speech speaking out against socialized medicine (government ran health care).

During the 1964 presidential election, Reagan supported Republican candidate Barry Goldwater by making a famous speech called "Time For A Choosing". In the speech he spoke against government programs and high taxes. Even though Goldwater did not win the election, Reagan gained popularity from it.

Governor of California

At the age of 54, Reagan ran as a Republican against the then governor, Pat Brown. When Reagan was elected governor he brought the state out of debt, made tougher water laws, and had the government give more money to the most poor. He ran for a second term and won. Reagan was a very popular governor. He served as the Governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

Presidency

Reagan ran for president in 1972 (he was not nominated), again in 1976 (he was not nominated again), but his run for president in 1980 was successful. He was both nominated by the Republican Party and he defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter to become president.

Reagan believed that the government should be small, not big - this means that the government should not interfere in people's lives very much or interfere with what businesses do. He believed in supply-side economics, which was called Reaganomics and Voodoo economics (by his opposition) during his term. He lowered everybody's income taxes by 25% and cut spending in many government departments. He also lowered inflation from 14% to 4% and he vetoed 78 bills. Reagan's economic plan resulted in a bad economy during the year 1982, but the economy turned around in 1983, and the economy was the greatest it was since many years ago. He called it "morning in america" and was re-elected in 1984.

In foreign policy, Reagan ended detente (the policy of being friendly to the Soviet Union) by ordering the largest peacetime military buildup in American history. The U.S. government had to borrow a lot of money to pay for it. He had many new weapons built and began research on a missile defense system which would destroy missiles to prevent a nuclear war from happening. The program was called SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative). He directed money to anti-communist movements all over the world that wanted to overthrow their communist government. He ordered multiple military operations including the invasion of Grenada and the Libya bombing. Reagan's reputation was badly hurt by the Iran-Contra Affair, but it eventually recovered.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the new leader of the Soviet Union (which was in bad shape and soon to collapse). Reagan had many talks with him and they both became good friends. Near the end of his term, they both signed the INF treaty (which greatly reduced the amount of nuclear missiles in both countries).

Legacy

Reagan, by public opinion, is one of the most popular American presidents. His legacy is strongly admired among many conservatives and Republicans. The legacy of his economic policies is still divided between people who believe that the government should be smaller and those who believe the government should take a more active role in regulating the economy. While some of his foreign policies were controversial, many credit Ronald Reagan for peacefully ending the Cold War.

Notable speeches

Tear Down This Wall

Reagan's Tear Down This Wall speech was delivered at the Brandenburg Gate in what was then West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987. In the speech he expressed the desire of the western allies to make peace with the Soviet Union. Referring to the Soviet's SS-20 nuclear weapons, Reagan spoke of the possibility of "eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth." The title of this speech comes from a challenge delivered in the speech to then General Secretary of the USSR Gorbachev. Reagan challenged Gorbachev, if he was serious about peace, to remove open East Berlin and remove the restrictions on travel. Referring to the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall he said,

“

Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

”

Audio and text of this speech is available here.

Evil Empire

Reagan's Evil Empire speech was delivered to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida. It is his first recorded use of the phrase. Speaking about the nuclear arms race he depicted the Soviet Union as evil.

“

In your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

”

Audio and text of this speech is available here.

Visit to USS Constellation (CV-64)

On 20 August 1981, Reagan was the honorable guest of Captain Dennis Brooks, commanding officer of the USS Constellation (CV-64). President Reagan arrived on the USS Constellation (CV-64) by helicopter. He spoke to the ship's crew, ate lunch with them and watched a United States Navy tactical display at sea. President Reagan then re-enlisted some US Navy personnel. He then was introduced to Special Agent Craig Goodwin of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS). He was the Special Agent who was on on board the USS Constellation (CV-64). He was later awarded one of the highest civilian medals for his intelligence work, the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.

Other websites

• Reagan's White House biography
• English Wikipedia's article on Reagan
• Reagan foundation
• supply-side economics
• Voodoo economics