Early life and education

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to John Edward (Jack) Reagan and Nelle Wilson Reagan in Tampico, Illinois, on February 6, 1911. His nickname, Dutch, came from his father's habit of referring to his infant son as his “fat little Dutchman.”

Jack Reagan was a shoe salesman who moved his family from one small town to another in Illinois. When Ronald was 9 years old, his family settled in Dixon, Illinois. At the high school there, he played football and acted in school plays. In 1928 he entered Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois. He studied economics and sociology. He played football and was active in the drama society but earned only passing grades.

Acting career

Reagan's first employment was as a radio sports announcer in Iowa. Among his duties was broadcasting Chicago Cubs baseball games.

In 1937 Reagan followed the Cubs to their spring training camp in southern California. There he took a screen test for Warner Brothers. The studio signed him to a contract, and he made his film debut in Love Is on the Air (1937). During the next 27 years he appeared in more than 50 films, generally playing supporting roles as the hero's friend. From 1954 to 1965 he hosted and occasionally acted in the popular television shows General Electric Theater and Death Valley Days.

Marriage and military service

In 1940 Reagan married the actress Jane Wyman. They had a daughter and adopted a son. They divorced in 1948.

During World War II Reagan joined the Army Air Corps. However, he was rejected for combat duty because of his poor eyesight. He reached the rank of captain.

Reagan married the actress Nancy Davis in 1952. They had a daughter and a son.

His political shift

From 1947 to 1952, and again from 1959 to 1960, Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. During the 1940s he was a liberal Democrat. His views became increasingly conservative, however.

Beginning in the 1950s Reagan supported Republican candidates. He switched his registration to the Republican party in 1962. During the 1964 presidential campaign he made a stirring televised speech on behalf of the Republican candidate, Barry M. Goldwater.

Governor of California

In 1966 Reagan was elected governor of California. He defeated the Democratic candidate, Edmund G. Brown, by nearly a million votes. He was reelected in 1970. As governor, Reagan increased taxes significantly to combat a large budget deficit. He also introduced widely admired welfare reforms.

Nomination and election to presidency

Reagan ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976. In 1980 he finally won the nomination. He chose George Bush, one of his opponents in the primaries, as his running mate.

Reagan ran on a conservative platform. He supported tax cuts, decreased government spending for social programs, increased military spending, and an aggressive foreign policy. On election day Reagan received 51 percent of the popular vote to 41 percent for the Democrat, Jimmy Carter. In 1984 Reagan was reelected by an even wider margin.

Reagan's administrations

From the beginning of his first term Reagan tried to reduce the role of the federal government. His budget program included cuts in all areas except defense as well as large reductions in taxes. Congress approved many of his proposals.

On March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. He recovered quickly after surgery.

In foreign policy, Reagan took a firm stand against the Soviet Union and other Communist countries. In 1983 he proposed his Strategic Defense Initiative, a space-based missile defense system popularly called Star Wars. It was perceived by the Soviets as a threat. Early in Reagan's second term, however, the Soviets agreed to resume disarmament talks. Historic meetings between Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, 1986, and 1987 resulted in a treaty reducing one kind of nuclear weapon.

In 1986 the public discovered that the Reagan Administration had secretly sold weapons to Iran. The administration hoped that Iranian leaders would use their influence to bring about the release of Americans who were being held hostage in Lebanon. This action violated a U.S. policy that prohibited dealing with nations considered to be supporters of terrorism. It later became evident that the profits from the deal had been illegally used to aid rebels (contras) opposing the left-wing Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The incident became known as the Iran-contra affair.

Later years

Reagan was succeeded in office by Vice President Bush in 1989. In 1994 he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a brain disorder. His health problems made public appearances difficult, but his popularity hardly waned. He died on June 5, 2004, in Los Angeles, California.