Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American actor and politician. He was the President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was the Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Reagan was President of the Screen Actors Guild twice, from 1947 to 1952 and again from 1959 to 1960. Reagan was a movie, television and radio actor before he began his career in politics.
Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. Reagan had a successful career in Hollywood. He appeared in 53 movies. He married actress Jane Wyman in 1940. The couple divorced in 1949. They had three children. Reagan then married Nancy Davis in 1952. They had two children. Their marriage would last until Reagan’s death in 2004.
Before winning his president election in 1980, Reagan ran for president two times in 1968 and in 1976. At 69 years old, he is the second oldest person elected president of the United States, just under Donald Trump who was elected at age 70. He is known as the “Great Communicator” because he was a good public speaker. Reagan was also known as the “Teflon president” because any criticism or scandals against him never stuck or affected his popularity. Reagan still remains one of the most popular presidents in American history because of his optimism for the country. Reagan was the first president of the United States to have been divorced.
Reagan was inaugurated in January 1980. As president, Reagan helped create a new political and economic idea. He created the supply-side economic policies. It was later called Reaganomics. Reagan’s economic policy lowered tax rates. It created an economic growth and lowered inflation. In his first term he also survived an assassination attempt. Reagan also declared a War on Drugs. Reagan ordered an invasion of Grenada to end a Communist coup.
He was re-elected in a landslide victory in 1984. During his second term, Reagan worked on ending the Cold War. He also ordered the 1986 bombing of Libya. In 1987, the Reagan administration faced a political scandal. It was the Iran–Contra affair. Reagan worked with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev during his second term. This led to the signing of the INF Treaty. It decreased nuclear weapons in the United States and the Soviet Union. Reagan left office in January 1989.
Reagan was originally a Democrat. In 1962 he changed to the Republican party. He is ranked high in presidential opinion polls.
Reagan died on June 5, 2004 at his Bel Air, Los Angeles home from pneumonia after a ten year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 93 years old.
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The Bad Man (1941)
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Capt. Ronald Reagan at Fort Roach
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Ronald and Nancy Reagan aboard a boat in California, 1964
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Meeting with President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, July 1970
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Addressing Congress on the Program for Economic Recovery, April 28, 1981 (a few weeks after surviving an assassination attempt)
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As the first U.S. president invited to speak before the British Parliament (June 8, 1982), Reagan predicted Marxism would end up on the “ash heap of history”
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Meeting with leaders of the Afghan Mujahideen in the Oval Office, 1983
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