Christian

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States practically all
throughout the 1980s. Formally a Democrat, he changed his views and became a Republican in
the early 1960s. In 1966 Reagan was elected as the Governor of California being re-elected
again in 1970. Prior to his election in the 1980s, Reagan ran twice for the Republican
nomination for the US presidency to no avail. In todays day and age of politics and most recent
presidential race Reagans name is being brought up more and more. It can even be said that
many Reagan-esque policies and regulations are returning back to American with the recent
election of the 45th President of the United States.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6th 1911 to Nelle Clyde and John Edward
"Jack" Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He was the youngest of two children, his older sibling was
John Neil Reagan. He had attended Dixon High school and it was there that he developed
interests in sports and acting. After high school he attended Eureka College in which he majored
in economics and sociology. While in college he was a member of the football team and the team
captain of the swim team as well as part of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He ended
up developing a reputation as a "jack of all trades", excelling in campus politics, sports, and
theater. After graduating college, Reagan became a radio sports announcer and in 1937 won
himself a contract in Hollywood after a screen test. While in Hollywood Reagan co-starred in
films such as Bedtime for Bonzo, The Hasty Heart, and The Voice of the Turtle. Over his time as
an actor he had appeared in more than fifty films. He had also met his future wife, Nancy Davis,
during his acting career.

During this time as well Reagan was enlisted into the Army Enlisted Reserves eventually
receiving his commission as a second lieutenant on May 25th, 1937 into the Officer Reserve
Corps. Five years later in 1942 Reagan was ordered into active service but due to his eyesight he
was he was put down for only limited service. It was because of the that Reagan was excluded
from being able to serve overseas. In May of the same year Reagan had applied and later
approved for the then Army Air Force. It was here that he was assigned to the 28th Army Air
Force Unit, mostly known as the First Motion Picture Unit. In January of 1943 he was promoted
to First Lieutenant and sent the Provisional Task Force Show Unit in Burbank. Reagan returned
back to his previous unit five months later and promoted to captain.

Beginning in the mid 1950s Reagan began forging his own political trail. Beginning as a
Democrat where he joined left wing political committees such as the American Veterans
Committee and fought against the Republican sponsored right to work legislation. In 1954
Reagan was picked up by General Electric to host its new weekly TV drama. This was where
Reagans political view began to shift from left wing to right wing. Many of Reagans views that
would ultimately build the foundation of what his presidency revolved around came when he was
working for General Electric. However General Electric had barred Reagan from expanding and
forwarding his political path to this he promptly quit and left General Electric.
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Reagan eventually began gaining popularity and momentum he so desired in 1964 thanks
to his speeches for the republican contender of the 1964 presidential race, Barry Goldwater.
Reagan made a monumental and milestone worthy moment came in 1965 when he had decided
to run as the governor of California. Having defeated his opponent in campaign Reagan
emphasized two things that would later resonate some 50 years later with the 45th president.
Reagan has emphasized in his campaign that he would send those on welfare back to work and
clean up the mess in Berkley. As governor he had frozen government hiring as well hiked taxes
to balance the states budget. Reagan got the re-election in 1970, but not before taking his
chances at running for presidency.

Two years prior to Reagans re-election for governor, he had taken a shot in the 1968
presidential race taking part stop Nixon movement in hopes of cutting Nixons support and
hoping to have a chance of becoming a compromise candidate on the Republican ballot. Alas,
though, this was not the case and Reagan had come in third place behind Nixon and Rockefeller.
Although Reagans first attempt at presidency was a flop, the more work and polices that Reagan
go after during his presidency in the 80s would helped be form while governor of California.
Once more, in 1976, Reagan would go after the White House once again for the Republican
party challenging the then current president Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination.
Although Reagan would not win this race, just as the as back in the 60s, it was here that Reagan
had established himself as a republican candidate. He had received the support of like-minded
organizations such as the American conservation Union. This in turn would build the political
base that Reagan needed.

In the 1980s Reagan once more ran for president against the current president Jimmy
Carter. During his campaign, Reagan had stressed some of his principles that hes been stressing
since her first began his political trek. During the campaign he had stressed the matters of
lowering taxes, states rights and more. It was here that, at last, Reagan had received the
Republican nomination, picking George H. W. Bush as his running mate, and finally taking his
first steps towards the White House. Ultimately in the general election between Reagan and
Carter Reagan had finally come out on top winning 489 electoral votes as well as winning 51
percent of the popular vote.

Finally, on January 20th, 1981 Reagan was sworn in and had officially taken office
becoming the 40th President of the United States as well as becoming the oldest US President of
the time. Now as President of the United States Reagan continued to change and redefine the
meaning of conservatism as he had been doing all the way up to his presidency in the 80s.
However just 2 months after his inauguration and attempt on his life was made by a lone
assassin. Fortunately, he had survived the assassination attempt and his popularity skyrocketed
after this event. During his presidency, the United States saw a number of changes.

Reagans term was officially dubbed the Reagan revolution for during his presidency
the fire of American morale would rekindle and the US economy would be spurred sending huge
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amounts of energy through it. Along with this Reagan would tackle immigration and deal with
the government by weakening the big central government and sending power back to state level
governments. Reagan had taken a conservative stance to immigration refusing refugees that
came in from central America deemed of criminal status such as running from their countrys
law. This too would return with the election of the 45th president in the 2016 presidential election.
Had it not been for many of Reagans policies and stances, there wouldve not been a base for
the 45th president to stand on and would have ultimately lost his campaign to the democratic
party nominee.

During Reagans presidency, Reagan had been able to drop down the unemployment rate
down from 7.5 percent during Carters presidency to 5.4 percent while he was in office.
Alongside this Reagan had put into place policies based on supply side economics hoping to
stimulate the economy with huge tax cuts. To add to the stimulation of the US economy Reagan
advocated to bring the US back to some form of gold standard to which he successfully urged
congress to the US Gold Commission. Further into Reagans first term as well as adding on to his
achievements, Reagan significantly lowered the rates of federal income tax lowering it from 70
percent to 50 percent and from 14 percent to 11 percent at its lowest. With all these policies and
changes the GDP growth had made a strong comeback after the early 1980s recession that ended
in 1982. The GDP had continued to grow annually at a rate of 7.9 percent after the recession and
throughout Reagans time in office.

Reagan had managed to spur the US economy and the GDP to life during his presidency
as well as being able to create 16 million jobs and keeping down the rate of inflation. It was in
during his second term that Reagan passed a Tax Reform Act in 1986 simplifying the tax code
ultimately being able to remove six million poor Americans from the income tax roll. Reagan
had been hailed as an anti-tax hero during the course of his presidency because of all this.
However, this was just part of Reagans job as president. Besides having to deal with only
economic and monetary problems at home Reagan also had the Soviet Union and Cold War to
deal with. During his time in office Reagan had escalated the Cold War by ordering a massive
buildup of the US military.

Together with United Kingdoms prime minster, Reagan had been able to denounce the
Soviet Unions ideals referring to it as another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last
pages even now are being written. Reagan had also referred to the Soviets as an evil empire in
a speech he delivered to the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983. To combat the
Soviets, under what became known as the Reagan Doctrine, Reagan and his administration had
provided secret aid to anti communistic resistance groups within governments that have been
backed by the soviets. A year later Reagans term had drawn to an end and Reagan began
campaigning for his second term against the former Vice President Walter Mondale. This came
as an easy victory for Reagan in November winning 49 of the 50 states securing his second term
of office.
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Reagan was sworn in for his second term in January of 1983 at the age of 73. This had
made him the oldest president to ever have been sworn in for a second term. Now in his second
term Reagan was bound to face some of the same challenges that he faced in his first term as
well as new challenged that were to come in his second term. One of these bigger challenges
came knocking on January 28th a year after Reagans second inauguration. On January 28th, 1986
a space shuttle designated the Challenger was supposed to be sent into orbit around the earth that
day. However, during launch, the shuttle had broken up and ultimately disintegrated killing all on
board. This proved a crucial moment for Reagan for this would be the first time he would
address a national tragedy such as this.

This wasnt the only new issue Reagan faced another came in the form of immigration. In
1986, Reagan signed and Act named the Immigration Reform and Control Act. This had made it
Illegal for employers to hire illegal immigrants knowingly of their status. This act though granted
amnesty to about 3 million illegals who entered the US after January of 1982. Although receiving
its share of criticism, Reagan had proclaimed that the act would go far improve the lives of a
class of people who must now hide in the shadows, unable to access benefits of those that are in
free and open society.

Nearing the end of his presidency the last biggest problem Reagan faced that carried
over from his first term was the Cold War. Although Reagans term is almost up the Cold War
was nearing its end as well. During this time the Soviet Union was under the control of one by
the name of Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev was the final leader of the Soviet Union before its
collapse. With Gorbachev at the helm of the Soviet Union, Reagan had acknowledged the
direction in which the Soviet leader tried to push his nation in. It was here where Reagan had
switched over to diplomacy, trying to get the Soviet leader to meet eye to eye with him to pursue
an arms agreement. Through this, Reagan had tried to achieve a personal goal of trying to rid the
world of nuclear weapons.

With Gorbachev on board with this proposal, the two were able to set up and begin
holding conferences from 1985 to 1988. Reagan had it set in his mind that if he could persuade
the allow more democracy that only then would communism come to halt. It was June 12th of
1987 where Reagan challenged Gorbachev and the soviets to go just a bit further. It was at the
Berlin Wall in Germany where Reagan challenged the soviets and uttered his most famous words
to date Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. It would be two years in 1989, ten months after
Reagan left office and the wall would come down and the cold war unofficially ending in
December of that year. This would be the last accomplishment Reagan would have achieved
despite having already left office by this time the wall fell.

Ronald Reagan passed away in 2004 in his home in Bel Air, California. To which upon
learning of this information the then president George Bush called for a National Day of
Mourning. On June 11th a state funeral was held for the 40th president to which many world
leaders were in attendance including Mikhail Gorbachev. Ronald Wilson Reagan was laid to rest
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at the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library in California. Although he has been gone for about
twelve years now. It can be said that with the current President of the United States, many
policies resembling those of Reagans are returning. Now with the current 45th president its been
speculated that spirit of Reagan is slowly returning to the US with what the 45th is trying to
accomplish in terms of immigration and economics just as Reagan did during his time. Although
its still too early to see if this is the case, it can be said that this is what the 45th is trying to
accomplish during his presidency. Hes trying to restore America to where it was when Reagan
was in office in the 1980s and return it to its former glory. With Reagan and others before
Reagan as an example, the current president is seeking to follow in the footstep Reagan and other
to revive America and build it back up once more just as Reagan had done in his time as
President of the United States.

Sources

Craig R. Smith (2017) Ronald Reagans rhetorical re-invention of conservatism,

Quarterly Journal of Speech, 103:1-2, 33-65, DOI: 10.1080/00335630.2016.1231415

Ronald Reagan. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 May 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan. Accessed 4 May 2017.

Ronald Reagan. The White House, The United States Government, 8 Mar. 2017,
www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/ronaldreagan. Accessed 4 May 2017.

PRIMUTH, RICHARD. "Ronald Reagan's Use of Race in the 1976 and 1980 Presidential
Elections." Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol. 100, no. 1, Spring2016, pp. 36-66.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=115818969&site=ehost-live.

Ronald Reagan. Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017,

www.biography.com/people/ronald-reagan-9453198. Accessed 4 May 2017.