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| Rank: | 40th (1981-1989) |
| Followed: | Jimmy Carter |
| Succeeded by: | George Bush |
| Date of Birth | February 6, 1911 |
| Place of Birth: | Tampico, Illinois |
| First Lady: | Nancy Davis |
| Occupation: | actor |
| Political Party: | Republican |
| Vice President: | George Bush |
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 -) was the 40th President of the United States, from 1981 - 1989, a (Republican) He is the longest-lived person to serve as President at age 90 (as of 2001).
Child of an alcoholic father, Reagan developed an early gift for storytelling and acting. He was a first-rate radio announcer of Chicago Cubs games, getting only the bare outlines of the game from a ticker and relying on his imagination and storytelling gifts to flesh out the game. Once in 1934, during the ninth inning of a Cubs-Cardinals game, the wire went dead. Reagan smoothly improvised the play-by-play.
Reagan had a successful career in Hollywood as a second-rank leading man, as his face and body were as handsome as his voice. There he acquired the nickname "the Gipper," which he retained the rest of his life.
Ronald Reagan began his political life as a supporter of Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal. He gradually became a staunch anti-Communist. His political career started through the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He gained political stature through radio broadcasts and speaking tours sponsored by the General Electric company.
In 1966, he was elected Governor of California and tried to gain the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and again in 1976 over the incumbent Gerald Ford. After his defeat at the Republican Convention he went on to be elected President in 1980 and 1984. During his presidency, Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. Like most successful politicians, he had great stage presence, and great instincts for how to come across to people and make them like him. Some historians believe that all of those traits would have been meaningless without his perceived enthusiasm for America and strong personal belief in the individual.
He was:
- Anti-Communist
- in favor of tax cuts
- in favor of smaller non-military government
- in favor of removing regulations on corporations
- supportive of business interests, both small and large
- supportive of some individual liberties
- tough on crime
He is credited with:
- building up the military
- lowering taxes
- greatly escalating the "war on drugs"
- ending the high inflation that damaged the economy under his predecessor, Jimmy Carter.
- firing the air traffic controllers when they illegally striked
Reagan's policies and successes or failures remain controversial in many areas including:
- Many of Reagan's supporters credit him with winning the Cold War. Others believe that the collapse of Communism in 1989 was a result of internal failures much more than American policy.
- There is disagreement over how much Reagan's policies contributed both to the severe recession that took place in 1982, and the strong expansion that began late in his first term and ran throughout his second term.
- The combined tax cuts and military spending increases of his first term led to enormous deficit spending and a dramatic increase in the national debt. The debt increased by approximately 450% between when Reagan took office and when his successor, George Bush, left office.
- It is generally agreed that Reagan substantially weakened environmental protection.
- Reagan supported missile defense, hoping to make the US invulnerable to attack by the Soviet Union. Many of his critics felt that the goal was unattainable in practical terms, and the attempt would be likely to increase the Arms Race, as well as being extremely expensive.
- Probably Reagan's most controversial foreign policy was supporting a civil war of the Contra guerillas against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Reagan's determination to continue support for the Contras despite opposition in Congress led to the worst scandal of his presidency.
- Reagan was regarded by some critics as indifferent to the needs of poor and minority citizens.
Reagan was in many ways the founder of the modern Republican Party. His redefinition of fiscal conservatism as being focused on tax cuts without regard to a balanced budget ("Reaganomics"), his opposition to progressive taxation, his hostility to environmental protection and abortion, the importance of the Moral Majority and its supporters in his governing coalition, and even his fascination with missile defense have all become trademarks of subsequent Republican leaders, including George W. Bush. Reagan's predecessors such as Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower would not have recognized any of these as part of the Republican platform.
He was the first divorced person to be elected President.
During his administration, there was a major scandal and investigation of his administration's covert support of wars in Iran and Nicaragua in what came to be known as the Iran-Contra Affair. His quick call for an independent counsel and cooperation with counsel kept the scandals from affecting his presidency.
Reagan currently suffers from Alzheimers disease.
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) was christened March 4, 2001, making it one of the very few US Navy ships to be named for a living person. (The first was USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70); others include USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN 709), USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), and USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR-300).)
Major Legislation Signed
Major Legislation Vetoed
Supreme court Appointments
- Sandra Day O'Connor - 1981
- William Rehnquist - Chief Justice, 1986 (an associate justice since 1972)
- Antonin Scalia - 1986
- Anthony M. Kennedy - 1988