Who is Ronald Reagan?

• Born in Tampico, IL in 1911• Interested in acting and sports in school• Lived through the depression and ended up

with liberal/Democratic ideals

• Got jobs working in radio– Announced Iowa football games and Chicago Cubs

baseball games

• Appeared in over 50 movies in his acting career– Most famous role was George “the Gipper” Gipp

in Knute Rockne: All American

• Reagan enlisted in the Army reserves in 1937– Could not serve overseas due to nearsightedness

• Ended up making over 400 army training films before the end of the war

• Reagan became president of the Screen Actors Guild

• Spoke in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during the Red Scare– Confirmed his anti-communist stance while also

claiming the U.S. should not be run on fear

• Married Jane Wynman in 1940 and was divorced in 1949 due to opposition to his political ambitions– Had two children and adopted another

• Married Nancy Davis in 1952 and remained marries until Reagan’s death– Had two children

• Reagan was a registered Democrat and admired Roosevelt– Family lived through the depression

• Hosted GE Theatre and gave speeches at GE plants– Controversial political themes led to his firing

• Registered as a Republican and supported Barry Goldwater in 1964– Gave a speech that started his political career

• Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966– Campaign of sending the “welfare bums back to

work” and “cleaning up Berkley”

• Sent police and National Guard to put down several protests in Berkley

• Did not run for reelection after 1974

• Reagan ran for the Republican nomination in 1976 against incumbent Gerald Ford

• Ran on a more conservative platform; Ford was more moderate

• Lost the nomination by 100 delegates

• Reagan ran for president on these principles– Lower taxes, smaller government, state’s rights,

strong national defense

• Picked George H.W. Bush as his running mate• Defeated Carter 489 electoral votes to 49

• Reagan wanted to raise American moral by limiting government– “Government is not the solution to our problems.

Government is the problem.”

• Air Traffic Controllers went on strike – Reagan ended up firing 11,000 controllers

• Reaganomics helped to raise the country’s GDP, decrease unemployment and inflation, and helped create 16 million jobs

• Promoted trickle-down economics– Cut taxes on the upper class and let the extra

money trickle down to the lower class

• Reagan cut budgets for nonmilitary services– Medicaid, food stamps, educational programs

• After a stock market crash in 1987 the U.S. had to borrow excessively raising the debt from $700 bill. to $3 trill.

• Reagan sent troops into Lebanon and Grenada to protect American interests

• Increased the production of nuclear arms– Going against earlier reduction agreements

• Provided aid to foreign countries to fight against communism– Supported Afghanis, including Osama bin Laden

• Reagan beat Walter Mondale in 1984 525 electoral votes to 13

• Put $1.8 bill. toward the “War on Drugs”– Nancy focused on “Just Say No”

• Bombed Libya after U.S. soldiers were attacked

• Iran-Contra affair hurt Reagan’s popularity– Sold guns to Iran and sent that money to Contra

soldiers in Nicaragua who opposed the communist government

– Interfering in Nicaraguan affairs was illegal – 14 were indicted from Reagan’s staff

• After Reagan left office, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 1994– Nancy is an advocate for stem-cell research

• Reagan died in 2004 at the age of 93