On February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and then worked his way through Eureka College. There, he studied economics and sociology, played on the football team, and acted in school plays. Upon graduation, he became a radio sports announcer. A screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films.
He has two children, Maureen and Michael, from his first marriage, to actress Jane Wyman. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis, also an actress; their children are Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.
Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.
Dealing skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and reinvesting in the economy, leading to the longest peacetime expansion of 93 months. There is more information on Reagan's policies on the Reagan Home Page
A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. In 1984, Reagan also porposed to Congress to strengthen the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which prohibits discrimination of disability by entities receiving federal funds. As a result airports were included under this act. Also, in 1984, President Reagan went to Normandy, France to issue a beautiful dedication to all the servicepeople who gave their lives for the freedom of France from the Nazis.
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 1988, Reagan has supported and proposed to Congress the Americans with Disabilities Act, which Bush signed in 1990, because Reagan believed all peoople should be able to work and be tax payers instead of tax users, a fundamental of Reaganomics. Also as a person with a learning disability, he knew first hand the problems that results from poor access.
In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve "peace through strength." During his two terms he increased defense spending by 7% (GAO, 1986)but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would 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.
By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti- Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa. Indirectly, Reagan's military renewal in the Persian Gulf led to Bush's ability to beat Iraq easily in the Gulf War in 1990.
Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength resulted in the end of the Cold War and resulted in the freedom of Eastern Europe.
Biography: At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore "the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism."
President Reagan also brought about the idea of Christian values. Like, Ronald Reagan, I, too am a Christian who wishes to rightly divide the Word of God. Click here for some Christian believer sites
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