Ronald Reagan Biography

Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, into a poor family that moved several times before settling in Dixon, Illinois. Despite the hardships of his youth, Reagan developed a strong sense of optimism that he carried with him throughout his life. Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932, when the Great Depression was the worst, yet he still found a job as a sports announcer at a radio station in Davenport, Iowa.
  Sports announcing soon allowed Reagan to embark on a movie career. In 1937 he signed a contract with Warner Bros. Between April 1942 and December 1945, Reagan served in the Army Air Forces and made official films connected to the U.S. war effort during World War II.   After the war, as his film career declined, Reagan became involved in politics. Between 1947 and 1952 he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, a union that represented performers in film and television.
  Although he had been a liberal Democrat, his politics became more conservative, especially after he began working for General Electric in 1954. In 1962 he registered as a Republican. Four years later he made his first run for office, winning the governorship of California; he gained a second term in 1970. Reagan left the governor's mansion in 1975 and challenged President Gerald R. Ford for the Republican nomination for president in 1976.
  He lost with Ford winning a narrow victory, but ford lost the election to Jimmy Carter. In 1980 Reagan easily secured his party's nomination and overwhelmed Carter in November.   As the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan earned a reputation as the "Great Communicator" because he spoke ideas in striking, vivid, and memorable ways. While he was president from 1981 until 1989 and for several years afterward, many people attributed his success as a speaker mainly to his experience as an actor in films and on television.
  There was another important reason, however, why Reagan became the "Great... [continues]

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