Ronald Reagan was president of U.S in two terms, from 1981 to 1988. It was a conservative politician who introduced measures neoliberals in the country and expanded US interference in the fight against communism. Before becoming a politician, Reagan had been a recognized Hollywood actor in the 1940s.
Accessalso: Watergate, one of the best-known scandals in US politics
birth and youth
ronaldWilsonReagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, United States, on February 6, 1911. his parents went JohnEdwardReagan, who worked as a salesman, and nelleWilsonReagan. Ronald Reagan was the youngest child of the couple, who had only two children.
During his childhood, Reagan's parents settled in different cities across Illinois, and in the 1920s they settled in Dixon, where Reagan spent a few years of his life. he graduated in Economy and Sociology by Eureka College, a university located in Eureka, Illinois.
Professional life
After graduating, Ronald Reagan got a job as a storyteller of sporting events. He initially worked for the University of Iowa and then was hired by different radio stations to narrate baseball games. In 1937, Reagan traveled to California on business, where he auditioned at the Warner Bros. studio.
After this test, Reagan went to work as actor, acting first in low-budget films. Over time, his performance began to be highly rated, and he started to be cast in more expressive films, which made him one of the Hollywood's most recognized actors in the early 1940s.
![Ronald Reagan was president of the United States between 1981 and 1988, and his government introduced a series of neoliberal measures.[1]](/f/81dbdb3f61ab23cb74d3730cbb35c40a.jpg)
Ronald Reagan's acting career was very successful, and he starred in 53 films over the course of his Hollywood career. His peak of fame was in the beginning of the 1940s, being interrupted by his call to the US army after the country joins Second war.
The summons took place in April 1942, but he was not sent to the front because of a myopia that made him incapable. So Reagan was directed to the "internal work" and acted in audiovisual productions of the American army during the war. In late 1945, he was released from service.
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After returning from the army, Reagan was unable to resume his film career and thus moved to work on television, with an emphasis on small audiovisual productions made by General Electric, the US home appliance company where he worked for eight years.
Also, Reagan started to get into politics at the end of the 1940s. He was president of the Screen Actors Guild, a union that represents actors and actresses in the United States, and contributed to the hysteria McCarthy of the 1950s, denouncing actors he believed to be communists. O anti-communism was one of the biggest marks in Ronald Reagan's life.
political career
Reagan is said to have had a more progressive bias during his youth, but under the influence of his wife Nancy, he became a conservative. Thus, he began to align himself more and more with the values of the BrokenRepublican. In 1960, he campaigned for RichardNixon in the presidential race, and, in 1962, he officially joined the Republican Party.
In 1965, Reagan was persuaded by members of the Republican Party to run as a candidate for governor of california. In Reagan's favor weighed his great rhetorical skill. In that election, his biggest opponent was Democrat Pat Brown. Reagan's conservative platform won over voters, and he won the dispute with almost 58% of the votes.
Ronald Reagan remained governor of California for eight years, having been re-elected in the 1970 race. Starting in 1974, the last year of his term, he was considered a presidential candidate by the Republicans.
readmore: Attack on Pearl Harbor - event led the US to participate in World War II
Reagan as president
In 1980, Ronald Reagan emerged victorious in the Republican Party primaries and became the candidate for the presidency. This year, the dispute was against JimmyCarter, who was looking for re-election. Reagan's victory was overwhelming: he had about eight million more votes, winning 489 of the Electoral College delegates (Carter only got 49).
In 1984, Ronald Reagan was elected for a second presidential term, and his victory was even more impressive than the first. In this election, his main opponent was the Democrat waltermondale. Reagan almost obtained 17 million more votes, winning a total of 525 Electoral College delegates (Mondale got just 13).
During his first term, Reagan already faced a major (and unexpected) challenge: he was the victim of a attemptinmurder. On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Junior shot the president six times, and one of the bullets hit him. He underwent emergency surgery to remove the bullet and, after 12 days in hospital, he was discharged. The perpetrator of the assassination attempt was acquitted of suffering from mental health problems and was sentenced to imprisonment in a psychiatric clinic.
Ronald Reagan's government was marked as a period that opened theimplantation of neoliberal measures in the United States. So, what happened in that country since the Reagan government was the cut in social programs to benefit the poor, the reduction of State regulations on the economy and labor relations, and reduction of taxes for large companies.
Ronald Reagan has cut 25% of taxes and reduced regulations in areas of the economy, environment and consumer rights|1|. He intensified measures that reduced workers' rights and lowered their wages. Those who resisted precariousness through strikes were fired with the approval of the Justice and the government.
The result of this policy was that American workers started to work more and earn less. In addition, 20% of American families experienced a decrease in their income and inequality soared from the rates existing in the 1960s|2|.
In the context of Cold War, Ronald Reagan had a very strong anti-communist rhetoric and acted directly to stop the advance of progressive, socialist or communist ideals in different parts of the world. US interference in the sovereignty of other countries grew during his administration.
the Reagan government supported the development of guerrillas who fought against leftist groups, highlighting the case of the Contras, who fought against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The Reagan government also gave support for Iraqi dictator SaddamHussein, at war waged by Iran and Iraq from 1980 to 1988.
Accessalso: The History of Democrats and Republicans in the United States
Personal life and death
Over the course of her life, Reagan married twice. The two wives of the former US president were as follows:
- janeWyman: married in 1940 and divorced in 1949. From that marriage was born a daughter, Maureen Reagan. The couple also adopted a son, Michael Reagan.
- NancyDavis: they were married in 1952 and remained that way until Reagan's death in 2004. They had two children, Patricia Ann Reagan and Ronald Prescott Reagan.
In the 1990s, Reagan discovered that he was a carrier of alzheimer and lived with the disease for a decade. His health and memory deteriorated in the years following his discovery of the disease, and a pneumonia was the cause of your death, on June 5, 2004.
Grades
|1| PURDY, Sean. The American Century. In.: KARNAL, Leandro (ed.). US history. São Paulo: Context, 2018. P. 258.
|2| PURDY, Sean. The American Century. In.: KARNAL, Leandro (ed.). US history. São Paulo: Context, 2018. P. 260.
Image credits
[1] mark reinstein and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves
History teacher
