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Ronald Reagan

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Ronald Wilson Reagan (R) was the 40th president of the United States, from 1981-1989. Longest-lived president at age 90 (as of 2001).

Ronald Reagan first rose to fame as a Hollywood actor, most famously as "the Gipper", a nickname which he retained for the rest of his life.

Ronald Reagan began his political life as a staunch New Deal / Franklin D. Roosevelt supporter. He gradually became a staunch anti-Communist. He was elected governor of California and elected president in 1980 and 1984. During his presidency, Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr.


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
  • a draft dodger
  • a big fan of jellybeans

He is credited with:

  • building up the military
  • lowering taxes
  • creating the Earned Income Credit - so that his tax cut would be passed
  • multiplying the deficit to several trillion dollars (The Democrat-controlled Congress passed the necessary spending and tax cut bills)
  • closing many public mental health institutions
  • greatly escalating the "war on drugs"
  • removing the solar panels from the White House roof and cutting alternative energy spending
  • beginning "Star Wars" antimissile defense research
  • allowing AIDS to spread by ignoring the CDC requests for funding
  • coining the term "volunteerism"

He was the first divorced person to be elected president.

During his administration, there was a major scandal and investigation of what came to be known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

Reagan currently suffers from Alzheimers disease.

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

Inaugural Addresses:

/Talk

See also: