Who is Ronald Reagan?

1. Who is Ronald Reagan?

2. Born in Tampico, IL in 1911 • Interested in acting and sports in school • Lived through the depression and ended up with liberal/Democratic ideals

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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