President Ronald Wilson Reagan

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President Ronald Wilson Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected the 40th president of the United States on November 4, 1980, and was inaugurated on January 20, 1981. At the age of 69, he was the oldest man and first movie actor ever sworn into that office. President Reagan passed away Saturday June 5, 2004 at his home in Los Angeles. The former President was 93. To a nation hungry for a hero, a nation battered by Vietnam, damaged by Watergate and humiliated by Iran, Reagan held out the promise of a return to greatness, the promise that America would “stand tall” again.
Mr. Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois and spent most of his childhood in Dixon, Illinois. He was the younger of two sons. Reagan was raised by his traveling shoe salesmen father John Reagan, and his mother Nelle. Reagan was strongly influenced by his mother, who taught him to read at an early age. After High School, Reagan won a scholarship to Eureka College in Peoria, Illinois. He majored in economics, became president of the student body, was captain of the swimming team, and played for the football team as well.

The President became interested in acting, but after his graduation in 1932 the only job available that was related to show business was a local radio sportscaster. In 1936 he took the job as a sportscaster for WHO radio station in Des Moines, Iowa. Reagan moved to Hollywood in 1937 and began an acting career that would last about 25 years. He would appear in about 53 films, with an interlude (1942-45) in the U.S. Army. Some of his noted movies were “King’s Row” and “Bedtime for Bozo”. During his acting career, Reagan was elected as the president of the Screen Actors Guild (the union for film actors) six times. Reagan married actress Jane Wyman in 1940 and had two kids with her. They divorced eight years later in 1948. He then met Nancy Davis and would eventually marry her in 1952. Ronald and Na...