Happy Birthday Gipper
A year ago at this time, we were commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan. If the Gipper was alive today, he's be turning 101 today. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. His parents were Jack and Nellie Reagan.
Reagan attended high school in nearby Dixon, Illinois and then went to Eureka College where he studied economics and sociology. He also played on the football team, and acted in school plays. Following graduation, he became a radio sports announcer and screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films. He married actress Jane Wyman and the couple had two children, Maureen and Michael. Maureen passed away in 2001. In 1952 he married his second wife Nancy Davis, who was also an actress, and they had two children, 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 and his political became more conservative. He toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for conservatism. In 1966 he was elected Governor of California and was re-elected in 1970. He went after and won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 after two prior attempts in 1968 and 1976. He won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office, and on the day of his inauguration, Iran released a number of hostages that it had been holding during the Carter administration. Only 69 days following his inauguration, he was shot by would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr., but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His courage and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.
Reagan became known as the "great communicator". He demonstrated skill in dealing with Congress, and on his watch he was able 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. Under his administrations, the national debt grew considerably. But he also oversaw a renewal of national self-confidence and in 1984 he won a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes, winning every state except Minnesota. 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 defense spending increased by 35 percent. Reagan used this position of strength to improve relations with the Soviet Union. Meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty to 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.
He ordered naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, which would later maintain the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with what became known as the Reagan Doctrine, he supported anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa.
Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year. Over the next decade this disease would rob Reagan of his mental faculties. He died on June 5, 2004 at the age of 93. He ranks highly in public opinion polls of U.S. Presidents. Many historians describe Reagan as the most influential president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. He left his imprint on American politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics. British historian M. J. Heale wrote that "scholars now concur that Reagan rehabilitated conservatism, turned the nation to the right, practiced a considerably pragmatic conservatism that balanced ideology and the constraints of politics, revived faith in the presidency and in American self-respect, and contributed to victory in the Cold War."
Reagan attended high school in nearby Dixon, Illinois and then went to Eureka College where he studied economics and sociology. He also played on the football team, and acted in school plays. Following graduation, he became a radio sports announcer and screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films. He married actress Jane Wyman and the couple had two children, Maureen and Michael. Maureen passed away in 2001. In 1952 he married his second wife Nancy Davis, who was also an actress, and they had two children, 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 and his political became more conservative. He toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for conservatism. In 1966 he was elected Governor of California and was re-elected in 1970. He went after and won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 after two prior attempts in 1968 and 1976. He won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office, and on the day of his inauguration, Iran released a number of hostages that it had been holding during the Carter administration. Only 69 days following his inauguration, he was shot by would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr., but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His courage and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.
Reagan became known as the "great communicator". He demonstrated skill in dealing with Congress, and on his watch he was able 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. Under his administrations, the national debt grew considerably. But he also oversaw a renewal of national self-confidence and in 1984 he won a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes, winning every state except Minnesota. 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 defense spending increased by 35 percent. Reagan used this position of strength to improve relations with the Soviet Union. Meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty to 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.
He ordered naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, which would later maintain the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with what became known as the Reagan Doctrine, he supported anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa.
Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year. Over the next decade this disease would rob Reagan of his mental faculties. He died on June 5, 2004 at the age of 93. He ranks highly in public opinion polls of U.S. Presidents. Many historians describe Reagan as the most influential president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. He left his imprint on American politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics. British historian M. J. Heale wrote that "scholars now concur that Reagan rehabilitated conservatism, turned the nation to the right, practiced a considerably pragmatic conservatism that balanced ideology and the constraints of politics, revived faith in the presidency and in American self-respect, and contributed to victory in the Cold War."