President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. He was the second of two sons to John (Jack) and Nelle Reagan. By the age of nine, Ronald had been moving from place to place constantly until he had finally settled in Dixon, Illinois. Two years later, he was baptized in his mother’s church at the age of eleven. Ronald Reagan entered the Northside High School in Dixon, Illinois and graduated in 1928. During his high school years, Ronald took a job as being a lifeguard and a few weeks after he started the job, he saved a man’s life. It was put in the Dixon Daily the next day. At the end of his job, the headline of the newspaper said, "Ronald, after seven summers, the count of those he has pulled from the water was 77 people!" He was a hero and in that same year, he enrolled into Eureka Collage. It was a small Christian collage near Peoria, Illinois. Even though he was not the best student and roll model, he graduated with a "C" average in 1932.

Within 6 weeks from graduating from Eureka, Ronald got a job at WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. He did an excellent job, and was discovered by a Warner Brothers agent. In 1937, the agent gave him a seven year contract toward acting. His first movie was called Love is on the Air. It was a success and Ronald ended up starring in 51 movies, after his seven year contract was over. Three years later, he married the actress Jane Wyman, and one year later, they had their first child on January 4, 1941. They named their child Maureen Reagan. That same year, Ronald’s father John Reagan, died from a heart attack at the age of 58. Michael Edward Reagan came along, but he was adopted. A year after that, Jane gave birth to a baby girl 4 months premature. Unfortunately, the baby died the next day. Ronald’s family had grown and within the next few months; he was elected president of SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild).

By the year 1948, Jane had gone into a mental cruelty institute, and this led to Jane and Ronald’s divorce. Ronald was by himself at this point, so he campaigned for the support of Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas in her race against Nixon for the U.S Senate. He married Nancy Davis, another actress who worked under the contract of MGM. They had a wonderful marriage. On October 22, 1952 Nancy and Ronald had a girl for their first child. They named their daughter, Patricia, known as Patti today. Two years later, on May 28, Ron Reagan was born. He became very involved with media and political issues. Ten years later, Reagan was fired, because he was seen as a political liability when he took on the Tennessee Valley Authority. Reagan decided at that point to switch his political affiliation to the Republican Party. Shortly after that, Nelle, Reagan's mother, died. Although Alzheimer's disease had not yet been identified, both his mother and brother, Neil suffered from this condition. Later on, he himself  would be diagnosed with the disease in 1993.

In 1964, Reagan makes his final appearance in the film The Killers. After his acting career, Reagan wrote a biography called, Where is the Rest of Me? The book was published a year later, and was a big seller. On, January 3, 1967 Reagan became Governor of California. He was very successful at being a governor, and Reagan’s draft movement for the 1968 presidential nomination took off. Ronald was re-elected as governor, and thought welfare was the biggest single outlay of public funds at the federal, state, and local levels of government. This helped him take a big leap toward becoming someday the president of the United States of America.

Over the next five to seven years, there was a big controversy over Nixon and Reagan. They were campaigning for president, while going back and fourth with all of the votes. On August 18, 1976 Reagan got 47.4% of the delegates at the Republican Convention in Kansas City. In the year 1981, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States of America. During his first term, our country almost lost this great man. On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan was almost assassinated by John Hinckley. Secretary James Brady was also hit, suffering brain damage. Reagan was seriously injured, where the bullet missed Reagan’s heart by less than an inch. It became lodged in his lung causing it to collapse. Once he recovered, Reagan appeared before Congress for the first time since the assassination attempt. He received a hero's welcome and overwhelming support. On June 6, 1984 Reagan delivers a speech at Pointe due Hoc, where he stood on the dramatic rock cliff jutting into sea that U.S. Army rangers had climbed during invasion of Normandy. The veterans of this invasion were his audience. This speech was very known to people because of the location Pointe due Hoc. He was a great president and very successful, and in a few years he was nominated as, "Man of the Year."

As Reagan’s term was ending, Mondale was going to run for president. On November 4th, Reagan defeated Mondale in a landslide. Reagan carries 49 states and 525 electoral votes to Mondale's 10, and 59% of the popular vote. One fourth of registered Democrats voted for Reagan. Due to this, Reagan served his second term as president at the age of 73 years of age. He was the oldest president ever to be sworn in. He felt Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday should be made into a national holiday to be celebrated on the third Monday of January. So, that was something else he made happen. In the year 1987, Nancy Reagan was also diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a biopsy done 7 months later and survived. President Reagan gave a speech on June 12, 1987 where he stood in front of the mighty Berlin Wall, which stood 12 feet tall and 100 miles long. This speech was his most famous speech of his presidency. He said, "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" On the 9th of November, 1989, the border separating Eastern and Western Germany was effectively opened. This ended the Cold War.

In 1989, when Reagan finished his second term he gave his farewell speech. Everyone called his farewell speech "Reagan’s Revolution." Ronald and Nancy Reagan flew to California leaving office with the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin Roosevelt. In 1993, after recurring episodes of confusion and forgetfulness, the Reagan’s flew to the Mayo Clinic for medical tests. Doctors there diagnosed him with Alzheimer's disease. In 1994, Reagan addressed a final letter to the American people in which he disclosed he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. After that, he no longer appeared in public. Nancy Reagan took care of Ronald for 10 years while he had Alzheimer’s disease. On his 89th Birthday, his Alzheimer’s disease had gotten so bad that he did not recognize anyone except for his wife, Nancy. On June 5, 2004 Ronald Reagan died peacefully at his home in California. At age 93, he is the longest-living president in American history. He was an icon from day one, and changed the lives of many people. One of his famous quotes that we will always remember is, "Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit."

-Marlana B