Remembering Ronald Reagan
It was a decade ago today, on June 5, 2004, that Ronald Wilson Reagan died. He was the 40th President of the United States and before that had been the Governor of California as well as a famous movie and television actor. He was 93 years of age at the time of his death and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for at least the previous 10 years.
Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911. He grew up in Dixon, Illinois and went to Eureka College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. After graduating, Reagan moved first to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster. The University of Iowa hired him to broadcast their home football games. He later moved to Des Moines. Part of his duties included doing play-by-pay for Chicago Cubs baseball games using descriptions that the station received by wire as the games were in progress.
In 1937 Reagan moved to Los Angeles where he began a career as an actor, first in films and later television. Some of his most notable films include Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), and Bedtime for Bonzo (1951). Reagan served as President of the Screen Actors Guild and later as a spokesman for General Electric (G.E.). The G.E. job gave him his start in politics. He had been a member of the Democratic Party, but switched to the Republican Party in 1962. He would often say that he didn't leave the Democratic Party, it left him.
Reagan received prominent notice after delivering a well-received speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964. He was convinced to run for Governor of California, winning in 1966 and again in 1970. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and again in 1976, losing to Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford respectively. The third time was the charm as Reagan won the nomination and general election in 1980, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
As president, Reagan came into office at a time of high inflation and high interest rates. He instituted a number of sweeping political and economic initiatives. He famously said "government is not the solution, government is the problem" referring to calls for more government intervention. His supply-side economic policies were called "Reaganomics" by his critics. Like President Calvin Coolidge, who he admired, Reagan advocated reducing tax rates to stimulate economic growth. He also supported control of the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and called for reduced government spending.
In his first term Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. He also took a hard line against striking air traffic controllers, threatening to fire the lot of them unless they returned to work. He also announced a new War on Drugs, and ordered the invasion of Grenada in order to remove a military junta and restore the constitutional government.
Ronald Reagan was re-elected in a landslide in 1984, in which he won every state except Minnesota and the District of Columbia. His campaign ads proclaimed that it was "Morning in America". Reagan's second term was primarily concerned with foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran–Contra affair. He publicly described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and supported anti-communist movements in other parts of the world. He met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pursuing a strategy of détente, while ordering a military buildup in an arms race with the USSR. Reagan subsequently negotiated a treaty calling for the decrease of both countries' nuclear arsenals. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union occurred early on in his successor's term.
Reagan left office in 1989 and remained largely out of the public eye. In 1994, he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year. His condition gradually worsened and he died at his home in Bel Air, California from pneumonia, complicated by his Alzheimer's disease, on the afternoon of June 5, 2004. He remains a conservative icon, and generally ranks highly in public opinion polls of U.S. Presidents, primarily for bringing the nation out of the the economic doldrums of the late 1970s and for the part he played in ending the Cold War.
Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911. He grew up in Dixon, Illinois and went to Eureka College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. After graduating, Reagan moved first to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster. The University of Iowa hired him to broadcast their home football games. He later moved to Des Moines. Part of his duties included doing play-by-pay for Chicago Cubs baseball games using descriptions that the station received by wire as the games were in progress.
In 1937 Reagan moved to Los Angeles where he began a career as an actor, first in films and later television. Some of his most notable films include Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), and Bedtime for Bonzo (1951). Reagan served as President of the Screen Actors Guild and later as a spokesman for General Electric (G.E.). The G.E. job gave him his start in politics. He had been a member of the Democratic Party, but switched to the Republican Party in 1962. He would often say that he didn't leave the Democratic Party, it left him.
Reagan received prominent notice after delivering a well-received speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964. He was convinced to run for Governor of California, winning in 1966 and again in 1970. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and again in 1976, losing to Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford respectively. The third time was the charm as Reagan won the nomination and general election in 1980, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
As president, Reagan came into office at a time of high inflation and high interest rates. He instituted a number of sweeping political and economic initiatives. He famously said "government is not the solution, government is the problem" referring to calls for more government intervention. His supply-side economic policies were called "Reaganomics" by his critics. Like President Calvin Coolidge, who he admired, Reagan advocated reducing tax rates to stimulate economic growth. He also supported control of the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and called for reduced government spending.
In his first term Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. He also took a hard line against striking air traffic controllers, threatening to fire the lot of them unless they returned to work. He also announced a new War on Drugs, and ordered the invasion of Grenada in order to remove a military junta and restore the constitutional government.
Ronald Reagan was re-elected in a landslide in 1984, in which he won every state except Minnesota and the District of Columbia. His campaign ads proclaimed that it was "Morning in America". Reagan's second term was primarily concerned with foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran–Contra affair. He publicly described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and supported anti-communist movements in other parts of the world. He met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pursuing a strategy of détente, while ordering a military buildup in an arms race with the USSR. Reagan subsequently negotiated a treaty calling for the decrease of both countries' nuclear arsenals. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union occurred early on in his successor's term.
Reagan left office in 1989 and remained largely out of the public eye. In 1994, he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year. His condition gradually worsened and he died at his home in Bel Air, California from pneumonia, complicated by his Alzheimer's disease, on the afternoon of June 5, 2004. He remains a conservative icon, and generally ranks highly in public opinion polls of U.S. Presidents, primarily for bringing the nation out of the the economic doldrums of the late 1970s and for the part he played in ending the Cold War.