Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois . He was a star on his high school football team but earned an academic scholarship to Eureka College in Peoria. There he majored in economics.

Reagan graduated in 1932 and took a job as sportscaster for an Iowa radio station. Five years later, he signed a contract with Warner Bros., a major Hollywood studio. In 1940, he married actress Jane Wyman

(1917–2007). The couple had two daughters, one of whom died at birth. They also adopted a son. The marriage ended in divorce in 1948, and Reagan married Nancy Davis (1923–) in 1952. They eventually had two children of their own. By 1942, Reagan had become one of Hollywood's biggest stars. He would eventually appear in fifty films. In 1947, Reagan was elected to the first of six terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He also served as spokesman for General Electric and through that position became involved in politics.

From acting to politics

Initially a Democrat, Reagan switched political parties in 1962. California Republicans urged him to run for governor, and in 1966 he won. As governor, he vetoed spending measures, reformed the welfare system, and provided property tax relief while increasing sales and income taxes. He was well liked among his fellow Republicans and was reelected to the governor's office in 1970, having made an unsuccessful bid for the presidential nomination in 1968.

Reagan ran for president again in 1976 but narrowly lost the nomination to incumbent president Gerald R. Ford (1913–2006; served 1974–77). In 1980, with running mate George H. W. Bush (1924–), Reagan easily beat incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter (1924–; served 1977–81). On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot Reagan as the president was leaving a Washington, D.C. , hotel where he had just delivered a speech. Reagan underwent surgery to remove the bullet from his lung and remained hospitalized until April 11. The bullet had nearly killed him. Hinckley, found not guilty by reason of insanity, resides in a Washington, D.C., mental facility.

A popular president

Reagan spent a great deal of effort pursuing an anticommunist agenda in foreign policy. Communism is a political system in which the government controls all resources and means of producing wealth. By eliminating private property, this system is designed to create an equal society with no social classes. However, communist governments in practice limit personal freedom and individual rights. America feared the spread of communism for decades, and President Reagan used his power to combat the possibility. He implemented a five-year program to increase defense spending by $1.2 trillion. In 1983, he proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, commonly called “Star Wars”), which was designed to protect the country against a Soviet strategic missile attack. Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as “the evil empire.”

Reagan promised assistance to friendly nations threatened by communist rebels and for revolt initiatives seeking to overthrow communist regimes. This policy was called the Reagan doctrine. Reagan made good on his promise. During his presidency, America supported revolutions in Angola, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan as well as anticommunist governments in El Salvador and the Philippines. He sent troops to help with peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon, demanded the bombing of Libya as punishment for its support of terrorism, and launched an invasion of Grenada to topple a communist government friendly to Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926–).

Reaganomics

When running for office, Reagan appealed to social conservatives and the religious right by supporting policies such as requiring school prayer and banning abortion. Although he continued to support such efforts once elected, he refocused his efforts on trying to enact a pro-business economic agenda. His program was based on the idea that tax cuts and other incentives would stimulate business investment and create prosperity that would trickle down to the middle and working classes via new jobs and pay increases.

In addition to high military spending and tax cuts, Reagan's economic policy (which came to be known as Reaganomics), also stressed reduced spending on social service programs such as adoption, housing, disaster relief, domestic abuse, and other needs-based initiatives. In 1981, Reagan proposed a tax-reform package designed to reduce the national deficit; Congress passed it but refused to approve cuts in spending for many social services. The tax cuts alone were not enough to balance out the president's trillion-dollar military spending budget, and the result was an economic recession (slowdown in consumer spending and a marked increase in unemployment) that America could not overcome until 1983.

Cold War

Immediately following World War II (1939–45), relations between America and the Soviet Union became extremely tense. The Cold War , a state of intense military rivalry without physical warfare, began. Neither side trusted the other, and the two superpowers were constantly trying to best each other. Reagan was reelected in 1984, and during his second term relations between the two nations improved drastically. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–) worked to reduce tensions with the United States with the hope of increasing Western investments in his country. The two leaders negotiated major arms-control agreements that resulted in the withdrawal of Soviet Union troops from Afghanistan. Gorbachev also agreed to discontinue support for communist governments in Angola and Nicaragua.

As international relations improved, the Star Wars budget was cut and military spending was decreased. As the American economy strengthened, the Reagan administration allowed the national budget deficit to mount.

The Iran-Contra scandal

Reagan's time in office was not without scandal. In late 1986, it was discovered that the administration had made secret arrangements to provide funds to Nicaraguan contra (counterrevolutionary) rebels fighting the government of the Sandinistas, a political party that held beliefs similar to those of communism. The funding came from the illegal sale of weapons to Iran, a country that had captured American hostages and held them for over a year (1979–81). The Reagan administration had ignored the law and proceeded with the secret operation.

When the Iran-Contra Scandal came to light, Reagan appeared on national television and denied that anything wrong had taken place. Within a week, he was back on television, admitting that weapons had been transferred to Iran.

An investigation ensued, led by a special presidential commission, a congressional investigation committee, and a prosecutor. Although it was determined that Reagan knew little about what was going on, he was criticized widely for failure to supervise his team. Several officials were prosecuted, and Reagan's political reputation was tarnished.

Post-White House

Reagan's presidency is remembered for stimulating the economy and implementing needed tax reform but also for an out-of-control federal deficit. Many historians regard the Iran-Contra scandal as an inexcusable violation of the law, but others stress Reagan's role in bringing an end to the Cold War and enacting arms control.

Reagan returned to private citizenship in 1989, when he retired to his California ranch. He remained an active public figure. The former president was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a fatal degeneration of the central nervous system, in 1994. He and his wife Nancy did not try to hide his struggles but instead went public in hopes of increasing public awareness of the disease. Reagan died of pneumonia in his home on June 5, 2004.