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United States Presidents

Ronald W. Reagan,
1981 - 1989

	Fortieth President Republican Vice President -  George H. W. Bush Born: February 6, 1911 Tampleo, Illinios Died: June 5, 2004  Occupation: Actor,  Public Official Married Jane Wyman Nancy Davis

Early Years:   Reagan went to school in Dixon, Illinois, and then to Eureka college where he majored in economics.  He had strong interest in sports, drama and politics.  Reagan became a Hollywood actor and made over fifty movies.  

His Presidency:    Reagan's leadership raised the country's optimism about our national strength.  His foreign policies were instrumental in ending the cold war.  Reagan's greatest achievement was the banning of intermediate range nuclear arms through a treaty with the Soviet Union in 1987.  

His life:  At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald 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."

On February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and then worked his way through Eureka College. There, he studied economics and sociology, played on the football team, and acted in school plays. Upon graduation, he became a radio sports announcer. A screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films.

He has two children, Maureen and Michael, from his first marriage, to actress Jane Wyman. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis, also an actress; their children are Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.

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.

Ronald 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 year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.

On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.

Dealing skillfully with Congress, 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.

A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro.

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.

In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve "peace through strength." 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.

Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be within grasp.

Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004, at home on his ranch in California.   Visit his Memorial Page

Did you know?  Reagan was elected at age 69, making him our country's oldest president.   

Quotations

"America is too great for small dreams."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

Ronald Reagan - 

"If I could paraphrase a well-known statement by Will Rogers that he never met a man he didn’t like I’m afraid we have some people around here who never met a tax they didn’t like."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Approximately 80 percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man made-sources." 

Ronald Reagan - 

"Our Constitution is to be celebrated not for being old, but for being young." 

Ronald Reagan - 

"It’s true, hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?"

Ronald Reagan - 

"History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap."

"The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a healthy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." 

Ronald Reagan - (New York Times)

"It’s time we reduced the federal budget and left the family budget alone."

Ronald Reagan - 

"How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Excellence does not begin in Washington."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Many Americans today, just as they did 200 years ago, feel burdened, stifled, and sometimes even oppressed by government that has grown too large, too bureaucratic, too wasteful, too unresponsive, too uncaring about people and their problems. I believe we can embark on a new age of reform in this country and an era of national renewal, an era that will reorder the relationship between citizen and government, that will make government again responsive to people, that will revitalize the values of family, work, and neighborhood and that will restore our private and independent social institutions." 

Ronald Reagan - 

"Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root."

Ronald Reagan - 

"I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gun point if necessary."

Ronald Reagan - 

"The very key to our success has been our ability, foremost among nations, to preserve our lasting values by making change work for us rather than against us."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Ronald Reagan - 

"Putting people first has always been America’s secret weapon. It’s the way we’ve kept the spirit of our revolutions alive a spirit that drives us to dream and dare, and take great risks for a greater good." 

Ronald Reagan - 

"No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."

Ronald Reagan - 

"We built it, we paid for it, it’s ours, and we’re going to keep it." 

Ronald Reagan - (Speaking of the Panama Canal)

"Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born."

Ronald Reagan - 

"The taxpayer, that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take a civil-service exam."

Ronald Reagan - 

"You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by the way he eats his jelly beans."

Ronald Reagan - 

Reagan's Speeches

• State of the Union 1982
• State of the Union 1983
• State of the Union 1984
• State of the Union 1985
• State of the Union 1986
• State of the Union 1987
• State of the Union 1988

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