• Ronald Reagan was born in Illinois and attended Eureka College near Peoria. After graduating he became a radio sports announcer, and in 1937 he won a movie contract in Hollywood. In the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s he appeared in 53 films.
• As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan became embroiled in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry; his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. He toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for conservatism.
• In 1966 he was elected governor of California by a margin of a million votes; he was re-elected in 1970.
• Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the yearlong confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office.
How he defined the office
• Reagan’s presidency saw a restoration of prosperity at home, with the goal of achieving “peace through strength” abroad. At the end of his two terms in office, Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore “the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism.”
Successes and failures
• Sixty nine days after taking office, Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin. He left the hospital after 13 days, and no formal invocation of presidential succession took place.
• Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit.
• In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.
• Also in 1986 Reagan was embroiled in the Iran-Contra Affair, in which arms were traded for hostages and the proceeds given to anti-communist rebels the Contras in Nicaragua.
• During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
• Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub.
• By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia and Africa.
• “There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakenable, that would advane dramatcilly the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” — from his remarks at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin June 12, 1987.