Reagan

= = = **Ronald Wilson Reagan** = was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989), the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975) and prior to that, a radio, film and television actor. Reagan was born in Tampico in Whiteside County, Illinois , reared in Dixon in Lee County , Illinois, and educated at Eureka College in Eureka , Illinois, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. Upon his graduation, Reagan first moved to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then in 1937 to Los Angeles, California. He began a career as an actor, first in films and later television , appearing in over 50 movie productions and earning enough success to become a famous, publicly recognized figure. Some of his most notable roles are in // Knute Rockne, All American // and // Kings Row //. Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and later spokesman for General Electric (GE); his start in politics occurred during his work for GE. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party in 1962. After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater 's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980. As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed " Reaganomics ," advocated reducing tax rates to spur economic growth, controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and reducing government spending. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, took a hard line against labor unions, and ordered military actions in Grenada. He was reelected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming it was " Morning in America ." His second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the 1986 bombing of Libya , and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair. Publicly describing the Soviet Union as an " evil empire ," he supported anti-Communist movements worldwide and spent his first term forgoing the strategy of détente by ordering a massive military buildup in an arms race with the USSR. Reagan negotiated with Soviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachev, culminating in the INF Treaty and the decrease of both countries' nuclear arsenals. Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, the former president disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year; he died ten years later at the age of 93. He ranks highly in public opinion polls of U.S. Presidents, and is a conservative icon. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in an apartment on the second floor of a commercial building in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911, to John Edward "Jack" Reagan and Nelle Wilson Reagan. His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie //Love Is on the Air//, and by the end of 1939 he had already appeared in 19 films,including //Dark Victory//. Before the film //Santa Fe Trail// in 1940, he played the role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film //Knute Rockne, All American//; from it, he acquired the lifelong nickname "the Gipper".Reagan's favorite acting role was as a double amputee in 1942's //Kings Row//, in which he recites the line, "Where's the rest of me?", later used as the title of his 1965 autobiography. Many film critics considered //Kings Row// to be his best movie,though the film was condemned by //New York Times//critic Bosley Crowther. Reagan met actress Nancy Davis (born 1921) in 1949 after she contacted him in his capacity as president of the Screen Actors Guild to help her with issues regarding her name appearing on a communist blacklist in Hollywood (she had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis). She described their meeting by saying, "I don't know if it was exactly love at first sight, but it was pretty close." They were engaged at Chasen's restaurant in Los Angeles and were married on March 4, 1952, at the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley. Actor William Holden served as best man at the ceremony. They had two children: Patti (born October 21, 1952) and Ron (born May 20, 1958). As president, Reagan kept a series of diaries in which he commented on daily occurrences of his presidency and his views on the issues of the day. The diaries were published in May 2007 in the bestselling book, //The Reagan Diaries//. On March 30, 1981, only 69 days into the new administration, Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy were struck by gunfire from would-be assassin John Hinckley, Jr. outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Although "close to death" during surgery, Reagan recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11, becoming the first serving U.S. President to survive being shot in an assassination attempt. The attempt had great influence on Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating to be around 73%.Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a greater purpose.

Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, California on the afternoon of June 5, 2004.A short time after his death, Nancy Reagan released a statement saying: "My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has died after 10 years of Alzheimer's Disease at 93 years of age