Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan Facts

• President No.: 40th
• Served: 1981-1989
• Party: Republican
• From: Tampico, Illinois
• Married: Nancy Davis Reagan
• Born: February 6, 1911
• Died: June 5, 2004
• Education: Eureka College (Illinois)
• Jobs Before President: Radio announcer and commentator, actor and public speaker, Governor of California
• Height: 6 feet, 1 inch
• Population at time: 226,542,199
• Hobbies: Riding, swimming
• Pets: Dog named Rex
• Transportation: Helicopter, airplane, car
• Communication Methods: Telephone, typed letter

Ronald Reagan Biography

Ronald Reagan was the fortieth President of the United States. He served from 1981- 1989. He was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. Reagan was a lifeguard in the summers. He had saved some 77 swimmers from drowning through the six years working as a lifeguard.

Reagan attended Eureka College. He majored in Sociology and Economics. He was active as a student and got four varsity sweaters in football as well as had parts in school plays. After graduation, he searched for a job in radio. Reagan was hired to broadcast Big Ten football games as well as baseball games. In 1937, Reagan did a screen test and he was off to Hollywood. He ended up in 53 films.

Reagan became the President of the Screen Actors Guild. He had to testify before Congress as a witness when the communists allegedly attempted to take over the movie industry. The views of Reagan became to slowly change from liberal to conservative.

General Electric hired Reagan as a spokesperson. Reagan traveled around the country and he was able to interact with Americans from all over the country. While touring, Reagan became more and more convinced that government was too involved in people’s lives. He eventually switched parties abd became a Republican.

One defining speech that Reagan made was for the Republican nominee for President, Barry Goldwater. The speech was so well done that Reagan emerged as a leader as a conservative. In 1980, Reagan became the Republican Presidential nominee and selected Texan Congressman George Bush as his Vice President.

Reagan’s strong communicative style and his large tall stature were well received by the American public. Reagan was an optimist and believed that American was in position for a great future. Even with a bad economy, with high inflation, high levels of unemployment, and high interest rates, the hostage crisis in Iran, Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 votes for Jimmy Carter, the incumbent.

Reagan had three main principles from which he operated throughout this presidency. He thought that the government was too big, that taxes were too large and the Soviet Union was a real threat. He had made plans to systematically move to combat the three aforementioned troubles.

Reagan hit the ground running. Reagan met with 467 legislators during his first 100 days in office. He was preparing for his Economic Recovery Act to go to the Congress. On March 30, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley. Hinckley shot Reagan trying to impress actress Jodie Foster, whom he had never met but fantasized about.. Reagan retained his sense of humor throughout the whole ordeal. Reagan told Nancy that, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” And joked with his surgeons by saying, “Please tell me you’re all Republicans”.

After recovering from being shot, Reagan again took up his Economic Recovery Act. He appeared on national television and addressed the American people explaining his plan. The Act was passed by a huge margin. Reagan was even able to get 40 Democrats to vote with the Republicans.

The second-term campaign was benefited by the effects of Reagan’s tax cuts which had simulated the economy, the build up of defense which began to affect the Soviet Union. Reagan and Bush defeated Mondale and Ferraro by a very large margin.

During his second term, Reagan was able to focus on the Soviet Union. He had called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and some thought his statements were ridiculous. However, after an arms build-up, and in the same year that Reagan’s term ended, the Berlin Wall came down.

In 1986, some of Reagan’s National Security Council members had diverted some of the profits from secret arms deals with Iran to aid the contra rebels in El Salvador.. The Iran-contra scandal had a bad effect on Reagan. Either Reagan directly disobeyed a congressional resolution against such aid or, as Reagan maintained, he did not know what his top aides did, and they had acted without his direction.

Reagan, the first president to have been divorced, had been married to an actress, Jane Wyman which ended in divorce in 1949. They had two children together, Maureen and Michael. Reagan then married Nancy Davis in 1952, who was also an actress. They had two children together, Patricia and Ronald.

After his Presidency, Reagan went to his California ranch, Rancho del Cielo, near Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, Reagan had Alzheimer’s disease. He wrote a letter to the American people telling them of his diagnosis. Reagan’s letters to Nancy were published in a book, showing his great style and fantastic ability writing and showing his great love for Nancy.

Reagan died on June 5, 2004. The country mourned his death. His funeral was held with great respect and many Americans honored Reagan by viewing him lying in state. Many are declaring that Reagan was one of the best loved Presidents ever, and that he restored the pride of the American people in their country and their government.

Speeches

Ronald Reagan Inaugural Addresses

• 1981 Inaugural Address
• 1985 Inaugural Address

Ronald Reagan State of the Union Addresses

• 1982 State of the Union Address
• 1983 State of the Union Address
• 1984 State of the Union Address
• 1985 State of the Union Address
• 1986 State of the Union Address
• 1987 State of the Union Address
• 1988 State of the Union Address

Other Ronald Reagan Speeches

• Challenger Disaster Speech
• Evil Empire Speech
• Time For Choosing Speech
• Tenth Anniversary of the Announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative Speech
• Pointe de Hoc Speech, June 6 1984
• Omaha Beech Speech, June 6 1984
• 1992 National Republican Convention Speech
• 83rd Birthday Gala Speech

Ronald Reagan Quotes

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!

27th October, 1964. TV broadcast.

A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at?

12th September, 1965. Speech to Western Wood Products Association.

We should declare war on North Vietnam. . . . We could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it, and still be home for Christmas.

10th October, 1965. Quoted in Fresno Bee.

Government is like a big baby – an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.

14th November 1965. Comment while campaigning for governor of California.

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

2nd March, 1977. Conference in Los Angeles.

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.

10th September, 1980. Quoted in Sierra.

I’ve noticed that everyone that is for abortion has already been born.

21st September, 1980. Presidental campaign debate.

Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision it might be well if you would ask yourself: Are you better off than you were four years ago?

28th October, 1980. TV debate.

There you go again!

28th October, 1980. TV debate, directed at Jimmy Carter.

You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.

15th January, 1981. Quoted in New York Times.

Please tell me you’re Republicans.

Quoted on 31st March, 1981 Washington Post. To surgeons operating on him after being shot.

We’re the party that wants to see an American in which people can still get rich.

4th May, 1982. Remark at Republican Congressional dinner in Washington, D.C.

[It is] the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.

8th June, 1982. Speech to British Parliament.

Let us beware that while [Soviet leaders] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination over all the peoples of the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world. … In your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride — the temptation blithely to declare yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of all evil empires, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil.

8th March, 1983. Speech to the National Association of Evangelicals.

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.

11th August, 1984. Radio microphone test.

I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.

22nd October, 1984. Referring to his opponent Walter Mondale.

I have my veto pen drawn and ready for any tax increase that Congress might even think of sending up. And I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: Go ahead, make my day.

13th March, 1985. American Business Conference in Washington D.C.

We are especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich.

8th July, 1985. Speech following a plane hi-jacking.

This mad dog of the Middle East.

9th April, 1986. Talking about Colonel Gadaffi in a press conference.

It’s difficult to believe that people are starving in this country because food isn’t available.

11th June, 1986. Press conference.

Back then [before 1981], government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

15th August, 1986. National White House Conference on Small Business.

I did say something in our negotiations in Iceland in Russian: Dovorey no provorey. That means trust, but verify.

23th October, 1986. Springfield, Mo.

A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that is true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.

4th March, 1987. TV address.

Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

12th June, 1987. Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin.

I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease. . . . I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

5th November, 1994. Letter to the American People.