Ronald Wilson Reagan

Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois. He graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a radio sports announcer before becoming a movie actor. He appeared in more than 50 films, most notably in Knute Rockne All American (1940) and Kings Row (1942). He served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild and later as a television host and spokesman for General Electric. He became involved in politics as a supporter of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1962. He was elected governor of California in 1966 and re-elected in 1970. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976, before winning it in 1980. He defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter in the general election and became the oldest person to be elected president at age 69. He appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor, and nominated the first African American, Robert Bork, who was rejected by the Senate. He pursued a conservative agenda that included tax cuts, deregulation, increased defense spending, and a hard-line stance against communism. He survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. in 1981. He developed a personal relationship with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and signed several arms control agreements with him, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987. He also supported anti-communist movements in Central America, Africa, and Asia, and authorized a military intervention in Grenada in 1983. He faced a major scandal in 1986 when it was revealed that his administration had secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, in violation of a congressional ban. He apologized to the American people and accepted responsibility for the affair, but denied any direct involvement or knowledge of the scheme. He left office in 1989 with a high approval rating and was succeeded by his vice president, George H. W. Bush. He retired to his ranch in California and wrote his memoirs, An American Life, in 1990. He announced in 1994 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a progressive brain disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive decline. He died on June 5, 2004, at his home in Los Angeles, at age 93. He was buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and popular presidents in American history. He is credited with restoring American confidence and optimism, revitalizing the economy, and ending the Cold War. He is also criticized for increasing the national debt, ignoring the AIDS epidemic, and supporting human rights violations abroad. He is honored with a state funeral, a presidential library, a national airport, and a statue in the U.S. Capitol.