Ronald Reagan
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
| Ronald Wilson Reagan | |
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40th President of the United States
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| In office January 20 1981 – January 20 1989 |
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| Vice President(s) | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Jimmy Carter |
| Succeeded by | George H. W. Bush |
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| Born | February 6 1911 Tampico, Illinois |
| Died | June 5 2004 Bel-Air, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | (1) Jane Wyman (divorced) (2) Nancy Davis Reagan |
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004) was the 40th (1981-1989) President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. Reagan was also an actor in films before entering politics. Reagan had a successful career in Hollywood as a second-rank leading man. He was the oldest elected President (69 years, 349 days). He is known as the "Great Communicator" because he was a good public speaker.
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[change] Childhood
Ronald "Dutch" Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 to Jack and Nelle Reagan. He was their second child. His father was a Roman Catholic, and his mother was a Protestant. While Ronald Reagan was a child, his family moved to different places in Illinois. His family was very poor and Ronald did not have much as a child. In high school Reagan loved to act.
[change] Radio career
After Reagan finished college he became a sports announcer at WHO. He was known for being good at recreating baseball games and making them interesting. At this time all they would get is the scores so it would have been very hard for someone to come up with what happened in the game. He was fired for not telling people who the sponsors were but was quickly re-hired because they could not find anyone as good as him to re-create the baseball games. He would send some money back to his parents to help them out because it was the Great Depression.
[change] Governor of California
At the age of 54 Ronald Reagan ran as a Republican against the then governor, Pat Brown. When Reagan was governor he brought the state out of debt, made tougher water laws, and had the government give more money to the most poor. He ran for a second term and won. Ronald Reagan was a very popular governor.
[change] President
As president, Ronald Reagan made the economy more free, made the army bigger, and is given credit for ending the Cold War. Ronald Reagan believed that the government should be small, not big - this means that the government should not interfere in people's lives very much or interfere with what businesses do. Reagan still remains one of the most popular presidents in American history.
[change] Notable speeches
- Tear Down This Wall
Reagan's Tear Down This Wall speech was delivered at the Brandenburg Gate in what was then West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987. In the speech he expressed the desire of the western allies to make peace with the Soviet Union. Referring to the Soviet's SS-20 nuclear weapons, Reagan spoke of the possibility of "eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth." The title of this speech comes from a challenge delivered in the speech to then General Secretary of the {USSR] Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan challenged Gorbachev, if he was serious about peace, to remove open East Berlin and remove the restrictions on travel. Referring to the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall he said,
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- "Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Audio and text of this speech is available here.
- Evil Empire
Reagan's Evil Empire speech was delivered to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida. It is his first recorded use of the phrase. Speaking about the nuclear arms race he depicted the Soviet Union as evil.
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- "In your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil."
Audio and text of this speech is available here.
[change] Other websites
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