(Brief Biography)

Before his election as a two term President, Ronald Reagan served in the Army (as an actor), and following WWII, worked as an actor in many films (from the black & white era). Later, he served as President of the Screen Actors Guild (a union that negotiated pay and benefits for actors in Hollywood). Reagan's political views changed over time from Liberal to Conservative. He started out as a Democrat, but as he got older, changed his party affiliation to Republican. This is a common pattern among many voters in the United States. Reagan toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for Conservatism.

In 1967, Reagan was elected Governor of California and served for eight years. In 1980, despite Incumbent President Carter's diplomatic and military efforts to rescue American Hostages held in Iran, the "Iran Hostage Crisis", as it was called, hurt Carter's chances for re-election. Carter was also hurt by a struggling economy that he was unable to do anything to improve. Reagan campaigned on the concept of greater American military strength and the promise of lower taxes. Reagan won the 1980 Presidential Election with a landslide result of 489 Electoral Votes to only 49 for Incumbent President Carter. (Read more about the Iran Hostage Crisis here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis)

Only 69 days after he took office, Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin as he was leaving a hotel where he had been making a speech. The assassin fired several bullets before he was tackled to the ground by Secret Service officers. One bullet hit the President, and was lodged in only inches from his heart. Three other people were also wounded in the attack. Reagan was rushed, in the Presidential Limousine, to a nearby hospital where surgeons saved his life. His recovery was considered remarkable for a person his age (70). He recovered quickly and returned to the White House less than two weeks later. (Read more about this at https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-reagan-shot)

Reagan encouraged East & West Germans to tear down the Berlin Wall that had been built by Russian-controlled East Germany in 1961. The wall was intended to divide the city, and prevent East Germans from fleeing Communism to get to the Democratic West. The people on both sides of the wall tore it down themselves, bit by bit, not long after Reagan's appearance there. East & West Germans could then travel freely between the two cities. Years later, the country of Germany was unified again as one country. (Read more about President Reagan at The Berlin Wall at https://bit.ly/2Z6q0Cp)

Reagan preached his political philosophy, called the “Reagan Revolution”, aimed to reinvigorate Americans, and reduce their reliance on government. His tax reform policies included tax cuts for the wealthy, and elimination of income taxes for very low wage earners. His policies were intended to reduce governmental rules and regulations over private businesses. In one speech, Reagan stated, "Government is the problem." In another speech, he famously said that, "The nine most terrify words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"  These quotes, delivered masterfully -by a trained actor- were well-received by a vast majority of Americans. Family economies, for the majority of Americans, improved during Reagan's Presidency, thought there was a tremendous increase in the National Debt, which impacts every citizen's future obligation to repay money borrowed by the Federal Government.

Reagan wanted to do away with reporters yelling for attention at press briefings who were trying to get their questions answered. Reagan's Press Secretary instituted a policy where reporters who wanted to ask questions had to wait until their name, written on a scrap of paper, was drawn from a glass jar. Most reporters hated this procedure and found it insulting, but Reagan and his staff liked it because it gave them more control over the media. Read more about this at: https://wapo.st/3sJ0WNK)


For National Defense, Reagan favored a policy of 'peace through strength'. Despite his dislike of excessive government spending, he supported greater U.S. military spending, adding more than one trillion dollars to the United States National Debt. This is something former President Eisenhower rightly warned was going to be a huge problem in the future. Reagan's choice to do this did lead to the economic fall of the Soviet Union (Russia), because at that time, its economy couldn't support the expense of an arms race.


Reagan's strategy reduced the threat of nuclear war during the 1980’s. Successful negotiations with Soviet (Russian) leader Mikhail Gorbachev were also part of his approach. Together, the two world leaders agreed on a treaty that would eliminate many intermediate-range nuclear missiles. (Read more about this at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Reykjavik-summit-of-1986)

Reagan championed the concept of a ‘Star Wars’ style military defense system, which he claimed would protect the U.S. from incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles. Despite spending billions of taxpayer dollars on the program, it was later scrapped (stopped) because it was deemed too expensive, and in the 1980's, too technologically challenging. (Read about 'Star Wars' at https://www.history.com/news/reagan-star-wars-sdi-missile-defense).


Reagan was the first President to nominate (and have confirmed by the Senate) a female justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. The justice's name was Sandra Day O'Connor. Since then, other Presidents have nominated women justices as well. By the end of 2022, there may be as many as four women justices (out of nine total) on the Supreme Court.

Prior to his political career, Reagan had been a trained actor, and was a very effective and persuasive speaker. He evangelized (convincingly talked about the need to) deregulate many American industries to help businesses grow. Regulations are rules imposed (forced) on businesses by the government that cost these businesses money. Some of these regulations are designed to protect citizens from poor business practices. Some examples would include the regulation of foods to make sure that they are processed and packaged in a safe manner, or the requirement that automakers install airbags in cars to reduce death and injury in auto accidents. The biggest sectors of the economy Reagan targeted were:

• the oil industry (gasoline companies)
• the airlines (United, Southwest, Delta, etc…)
• telecommunications (telephones)
• the entertainment industry (movies, television, radio)

This deregulation (the removal of many rules disliked by businesses) brought great prosperity to these companies, along with lower prices, innovation, and more products and services to consumers. The result of these actions included:

• lower prices for gas for cars, trucks, buses, ships and planes
• lower prices for airline travel & more routes
• the invention of fax machines, cell phones, e-mail, messaging, video calls, the Internet
• more movies produced, more TV shows and channels offered, cable & satellite TV, more ads and profanity on radio and TV, streaming services, YouTube™, etc...


In 1986, President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. This law allowed millions of immigrants living in the U.S. prior to 1982 to obtain legal status, continue to work in the U.S., and apply for U.S. Citizenship. The signing ceremony for the new law was held beside the newly-restored Statue of Liberty. Reagan had this to say on that day: "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows....Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."

Ronald Reagan was President for eight years, and quite old and forgetful by the time he left office (78 years old). While he had many successes, he had a few missteps along the way. Here are a few of the more memorable ones:

• Reagan was criticized in the media, and among nutritionists, when his Department of Agriculture tried to cut school lunch budgets by declaring that ketchup could be characterized as a 'vegetable' to satisfy nutrition requirements. Ketchup is condiment, made from tomatoes, which are actually a fruit, and it comes in a packet.

• Reagan placed anti-environmentalists in charge of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. In the opinion of critics, these people worked against the goals of these agencies tasked with protecting the environment. These Reagan Cabinet Members made things better for businesses like oil and lumber companies, but worse for many of the country's natural areas and the animals that lived there.

• The Savings & Loan Crisis occurred during Reagan's terms in office, which bankrupted many seniors of their life savings, and added hundreds of billions of dollars to the National Debt. Congress was also faulted for not having better oversight over crooked bankers and insolvent savings & loan institutions that did not manage people's money well.

• Without Reagan's knowledge, members of his cabinet and the military were involved in the "Iran-Contra Affair". This was a convoluted (complicated and messy) plan that involved selling missiles to the country of Lebanon for 30 million dollars, and then later secretly sending 18 million dollars from the weapons sale to drug-selling, anti-government rebels in the country of Nicaragua to fund their attempt to overthrow their country's government. When Reagan was finally questioned about his role in the affair, he claimed that he "mis-remembered" (a term one of his aides invented to mean 'forgot') some of the conversations about it.

• Reagan claimed to be in favor of smaller government (his "Reagan Revolution"), but supported massive spending on many military programs that were unneeded, or ineffective.

Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-presidents-neighborhood-faq
https://www.biography.com/us-president
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents

-Complied by Henry Anker