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Ronald Reagan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For the Navy ship named in honor of the person, please see USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76). 

Ronald W. Reagan 



Order: 40th President 

Vice President: George H.W. Bush 

Term of office: 20 January 1981 – 20 January 1989 

Preceded by: Jimmy Carter 

Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush 

Date of birth: 6 February 1911 

Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois 

Date of death: 5 June 2004 

Place of death: Bel-Air, California 

First Lady: Nancy Reagan 

Political party: Republican 

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). Reagan was also a broadcaster, actor, and head of the Screen Actor's Guild before entering politics.



Contents [showhide] 

1 Early life and career



1.1 Hollywood





2 Early political career



3 Governorship



4 Presidential campaigns



5 Presidency



5.1 Domestic record

5.2 Foreign policy and interventions

5.3 "The Great Communicator"

5.4 "The Great Prevaricator" and other criticisms

5.5 Appointments





5.5.1 Cabinet

5.5.2 Supreme Court appointments





5.6 Major legislation approved





6 Christian faith



7 Legacy and retirement from public life



7.1 Job approval rating

7.2 Death

7.3 Most fascinating person





8 Further reading



9 See also



10 External links



10.1 Biographical information

10.2 Videos

10.3 News items

10.4 Speeches







Early life and career

Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, the second of two sons to John "Jack" Reagan and Nelle Wilson. One of his four great-grandfathers had immigrated to the United States from Ballyporeen, Ireland in the 1860s. Prior to his grandfather's emigration, the family name had been spelled Regan.



In 1920, after years of moving from town to town, the family settled in Dixon, Illinois. In 1921, at the age of 10, Reagan was baptized in his mother's Disciples of Christ church in Dixon, and in 1924 he began attending Dixon's Northside High School. Reagan always considered Dixon to be his home-town.





Ronald and his older brother Neil, with parents Jack and Nelle Reagan. (c. 1916-17)In 1927, at age 16, Reagan took a summer job as a lifeguard in Lowell Park, two miles away from Dixon on the nearby Rock River. He continued to work as a lifeguard for the next seven years, reportedly saving 77 people from drowning. Reagan would later joke that none of them ever thanked him.



In 1928, Reagan entered Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, majoring in economics and sociology and graduating in 1932. In 1929 Ronald Reagan joined Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity which he recalled during numerous interviews and conversations later in life as one of the greatest experiences he had during his college years. Though earning mediocre grades, he made many lasting friendships. Reagan developed an early gift for storytelling and acting. He was a radio announcer of Chicago Cubs baseball games, getting only the bare outlines of the game from a ticker and relying on his imagination and storytelling gifts to flesh out the game. Once in 1934, during the ninth inning of a Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals game, the wire went dead. Reagan smoothly improvised a fictional play-by-play (in which hitters on both teams fouled off pitches) until the wire was restored.





Hollywood

Reagan was popular amongst some audiences, aided by his clear voice and athletic physique; he primarily starred in Hollywood as a leading man roles in B movies. His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie Love Is On the Air. By the end of 1939, he had appeared in 19 films. In 1940 he played the role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American, from which he acquired the nickname the Gipper, which he retained the rest of his life. Reagan himself considered his best acting work to have been in Kings Row (1942). He played the part of a young man whose legs were amputated. He used a line he spoke in this film, "Where's the rest of me?" as the title for his autobiography. Other notable Reagan films include Hellcats of the Navy, This Is the Army, and Bedtime for Bonzo. Reagan was kidded widely about the last named film because his co-star was a chimpanzee. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6374 Hollywood Blvd.