Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is a state of the United States that borders Lake Michigan and the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa; its capital is Springfield and its largest city is Chicago. It was admitted to the Union on December 3, 1818, as the 21st state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 12,812,508.Open the full entry, to John Edward (“Jack”) Reagan, a struggling shoe salesman, and Nelle Wilson Reagan. His nickname “Dutch” came from his father’s name for him as a baby.⁠[1]

His father, Jack, struggled with alcoholism; a Democrat, he became the local Works Progress Administration director in Dixon after Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, the only president elected four times; he led the country through the Great Depression and World War II and greatly expanded the federal government’s role through the New Deal.Open the full entry was elected president in 1932, and he died in 1941. His mother, Nelle, a devoted member of the Disciples of Christ known for her charity work, moved to Hollywood after her husband’s death and died in 1962.⁠[2]

The family moved among several Illinois towns and settled in Dixon on December 6, 1920; Reagan always considered Dixon his hometown.⁠[3]

In the summer of 1926 Reagan took his first job, as a lifeguard at Lowell Park in Dixon. He graduated from Dixon High School in June 1928, entered Eureka College that fall and graduated in June 1932 with a B.A. in economics and sociology.⁠[3]

At Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, he played football, was active in the drama society and was elected senior class president, earning mostly passing grades.⁠[1]

He gave an oration on behalf of Eureka students who were striking to restore classes.⁠[2]

In the fall of 1932 Reagan and his father supported Roosevelt for president. That December he was hired as a sports announcer at radio station WOC in Davenport, IowaIowaIowa is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital and largest city is Des Moines. It was admitted to the Union on December 28, 1846, as the 29th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 3,190,369.Open the full entry, and in April 1933 he moved to WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, which gave him national exposure.⁠[3]

At WHO he broadcast Chicago CubsChicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team in the National League Central Division, playing at Wrigley Field on Chicago’s North Side. Originally known as the White Stockings, the club joined the National League as a charter member in 1876 and is the only team from its inaugural season still playing in its original city. The Cubs name became official in 1907. The franchise has won 17 National League pennants and three World Series titles, in 1907, 1908 and 2016. The 2016 championship ended a 108-year World Series title drought. The Ricketts family has held a controlling interest since 2009.Open the full entry games.⁠[1]

On February 27, 1935, he enlisted in the Army Reserve, and on April 27, 1937, he was promoted to second lieutenant in the Reserve.⁠[3]

On March 15, 1937, during the Chicago Cubs’ spring training, Reagan took a screen test for Warner Bros.; he signed with the studio as a contract player on April 20 and began work at the studio on June 7 on his first film, Love Is on the Air.⁠[3]

Warner Bros. first offered him a $200-a-week contract; around the release of Kings Row in 1942 he signed a million-dollar, multi-year contract with the studio. In 1940 he played George Gipp in Knute Rockne, All American, which earned him the nickname “The Gipper.”⁠[2]

Over 27 years he appeared in more than 50 films, among them The Hasty Heart (1950).⁠[1]

Kings Row was his own favorite among his films.⁠[4]

In June 1952 he made his last Warner Bros. picture, The Winning Team; in 1957 he filmed Hellcats of the Navy with Nancy Davis; The Killers (1964) was his last film.⁠[3]

Reagan was called to active duty on April 19, 1942, and assigned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit; he was promoted to first lieutenant on January 14, 1943, and to captain on July 22, 1943, and was discharged on December 9, 1945.⁠[3]

He served in an Army film unit in Los Angeles making training films, and never left the country or saw combat.⁠[1]

In March 1947 Reagan was first elected president of the Screen Actors Guild, and on October 25 of that year he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was elected Guild president for the last time in November 1959 and resigned in July 1960 after strike negotiations ended.⁠[3]

As Guild president he became embroiled in disputes over communism in the film industry, and his political views shifted from liberal to conservative.⁠[5]

Reagan admired Roosevelt and remained a Democrat until after he turned 50, switching to the Republican Party as his views grew more conservative.⁠[4]

He campaigned for Harry S. TrumanHarry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman (1884–1972) was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator from Missouri and as vice president in 1945, succeeding Franklin D. Roosevelt on his death that year and serving as the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, a period spanning the end of World War II and the early Cold War.Open the full entry in 1948, backed Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Nixon (1913–1994) was an American politician who represented California in the U.S. House and Senate, served as vice president from 1953 to 1961 and was the 37th president of the United States from 1969 to 1974. His administration opened relations with China, signed strategic arms limitation agreements with the Soviet Union and ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War; he resigned over the Watergate scandal on August 9, 1974, the only U.S. president to do so.Open the full entry in 1950 and supported Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) was an American army general and politician who served as supreme commander of Allied forces in western Europe during World War II and as the 34th president of the United States, a Republican, from 1953 to 1961.Open the full entry in 1952 and 1956; in 1960 he gave 200 speeches for Nixon’s presidential campaign against John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy (1917–1963) was an American politician who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 to 1963. The youngest person elected president and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office, he was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

In April 1950 he supported Helen Gahagan Douglas for the Senate before switching to Nixon in the fall. In the fall of 1962 he changed his party registration to Republican.⁠[3]

On September 26, 1954, Reagan made his first appearance on General ElectricGE AerospaceGE Aerospace is the name under which General Electric Company operates, a jet engine maker listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GE.Open the full entry Theater, becoming its host and a spokesman for General Electric. GE canceled the program in March 1962, and his last appearance aired on August 26, 1962.⁠[3]

The GE contract paid him an annual salary of $150,000. His brother Neil, an advertising executive, later landed him a contract to host Death Valley Days.⁠[2]

He became host of Death Valley Days in 1964 and left the program in 1965.⁠[3]

On October 27, 1964, Reagan delivered “A Time for Choosing,” a televised speech for the Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater that launched his political career; that November supporters formed the group “Friends of Ronald Reagan.” His autobiography, Where’s the Rest of Me, was published in 1965.⁠[3]

The speech made him a leading conservative figure.⁠[4]

In November 1966 Reagan defeated the incumbent governor, Edmund G. (“Pat”) Brown, to become governor of California, winning by nearly a million votes and carrying 53 of the state’s 58 counties.⁠[2][3]

He was inaugurated in a small midnight ceremony on January 2, 1967, followed by a public inaugural celebration and address on January 5. On May 15, 1969, he sent the National Guard to UC BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is a campus of the University of California system; the University of California was founded in 1868 through a merger of two institutions and moved to Berkeley, California, in 1873.Open the full entry after student unrest. In November 1970 he won reelection over Jesse Unruh, and in 1971 he signed the California Welfare Reform Act.⁠[3]

The Miller Center’s essays judge that as governor he approved a record tax increase, restored order on college campuses and pursued welfare and property tax reforms, and that he was known for compromise on taxes, welfare reform and environmental protection while taking a hard line on campus protests.⁠[4][2]

In August 1968 Reagan announced his presidential candidacy at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, then backed Nixon.⁠[3]

In the fall of 1974 he declined offers from the Gerald FordGerald FordGerald Ford (1913–2006) was an American politician who represented Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1973 and became House minority leader in 1965. In 1973 he became the first vice president appointed under the 25th Amendment, and after Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 he served as the 38th president of the United States until 1977.Open the full entry administration, including the post of ambassador to the Court of St. James’s. On November 20, 1975, he announced his candidacy against Ford for the 1976 Republican nomination, and on August 19, 1976, he gave an unscripted address to the Republican National Convention in Kansas City.⁠[3]

He lost narrowly in a contest in which most of the party establishment backed the incumbent president.⁠[2]

Reagan announced his candidacy for the 1980 Republican nomination on November 13, 1979.⁠[3]

His six rivals in the primaries were Howard Baker, John Connally, Robert Dole, Phillip Crane, George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush (1924–2018) was an American politician who served as a Navy pilot in World War II and worked in the oil business before holding posts including U.S. representative, ambassador to the United Nations and director of the Central Intelligence Agency; he was vice president from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.Open the full entry and John Anderson. Bush won the Iowa caucuses, the first test, but Reagan won New HampshireNew HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by Quebec, Canada, to the north, Vermont across the Connecticut River to the west, Massachusetts to the south, and Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east; its capital is Concord. One of the original 13 colonies, it became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on June 21, 1788, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,377,529.Open the full entry and then 29 of the 33 primaries in which he and Bush competed.⁠[6]

On July 16, 1980, he won the Republican nomination in Detroit; after Ford declined the vice-presidential nomination, he offered the post to Bush to reach moderate Republicans.⁠[3][6]

His general-election opponents were the Democratic incumbent, Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterJimmy Carter (1924–2024) was an American politician and Democrat who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. His administration brokered the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, signed the Panama Canal treaties and established relations with the People’s Republic of China, but he lost his reelection bid amid the energy crisis, inflation and the Iran hostage crisis; after leaving office he founded The Carter Center to work on mediation, election observation and disease control, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.Open the full entry, and the independent John Anderson, who received less than 7 percent of the vote. In the October 28 debate Reagan answered Carter’s criticism on Medicare with “There you go again” and closed by asking voters whether they were better off than four years earlier.⁠[6]

On November 4 Reagan defeated Carter with 51 percent of the popular vote to 41 percent and 489 electoral votes to 49. The Miller Center notes that Carter’s showing was the worst for an incumbent seeking reelection since Herbert HooverHerbert HooverHerbert Hoover (1874–1964) was an American mining engineer, humanitarian and politician who led food relief for Europe during and after World War I, served as U.S. secretary of commerce from 1921 to 1928 and was the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933, a term dominated by the Great Depression.Open the full entry in 1932. Republicans gained 53 House seats and 12 Senate seats, winning a Senate majority for the first time since 1954.⁠[6][3]

Reagan took office on January 20, 1981, the day the American hostages held in Iran were released.⁠[5][7]

In his inaugural address he said that “government is the problem,” while making clear he did not want to abolish government. He named James A. Baker III chief of staff, Edwin Meese III counsellor and Michael Deaver as Baker’s assistant, a group known as “the Trio”; his cabinet included Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and Attorney General William French Smith.⁠[8]

George ShultzGeorge ShultzGeorge Shultz was an American economist and statesman who held four Cabinet-level posts: labor secretary, budget director, treasury secretary and secretary of state. He later served as a Theranos director.Open the full entry replaced Haig as secretary of state in 1982 and became the most influential member of the cabinet.⁠[9]

In March 1981 Reagan set the defense budget at $220 billion, the largest peacetime defense budget in U.S. history; planners projected 7 percent annual increases from 1981 to 1985, nearly $1 trillion in all. The buildup aimed to strengthen the military, reassure European allies and push the Soviet Union toward negotiations.⁠[9]

Over his two terms defense spending rose by 35 percent.⁠[5]

On March 30, 1981, after a speech at a Washington, D.C., hotel, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr.; a bullet struck him in the chest and missed his heart by less than an inch. Press secretary James Brady was permanently injured by a bullet to the brain, and a Secret Service agent and a District police officer were also wounded.⁠[8]

The shooting came 69 days after his inauguration; he recovered quickly and returned to duty.⁠[5]

On July 7, 1981, Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court of the United States; she was sworn in on September 25, 1981. He later elevated William Rehnquist to chief justice and appointed Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy as justices.⁠[7]

Reagan took office amid double-digit inflation and interest rates near 20 percent. He asked Congress to cut marginal tax rates by 30 percent over three years and to trim the coming year’s budget by $41 billion; Congress ultimately approved a 25 percent tax reduction over three years.⁠[7][8]

On August 13, 1981, he signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act. His economic approach became known as “Reaganomics.”⁠[7]

Meanwhile Paul Volcker, the Carter-appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve System, tightened the money supply to fight inflation, driving up interest rates.⁠[8]

In 1981 the nearly 12,000-member Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike, and Reagan fired the strikers when they defied a back-to-work order. The Miller Center’s essay judges that the firing also signaled to businesses that they could bargain harder with unions.⁠[8][7]

The Fed’s tight-money policy brought on a recession; unemployment rose to 11 percent and the 1982 budget deficit was $113 billion. Reagan refused to break with the Fed, urging Americans to “Stay the course,” and in 1982 he signed a tax increase, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA), followed by another tax increase in 1984.⁠[8]

Inflation fell from 13.5 percent in 1980 to 5.1 percent in 1982, while unemployment exceeded 10 percent in October 1982.⁠[7]

Reagan appointed a commission headed by Alan Greenspan on Social Security. In 1983 he and House Speaker Tip O’Neill accepted its compromise, which slightly raised the retirement age, increased payroll taxes and taxed the benefits of high earners. Reagan signed the bill in the White House Rose Garden on April 20, 1983.⁠[8]

After Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, Reagan sent 800 Marines in August as part of a multinational force and withdrew them after the PLO departed; when Lebanese militias with ties to Israel massacred 700 refugees in mid-September, he returned U.S. forces to Beirut.⁠[9]

On April 18, 1983, a truck bomb at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut killed 17 Americans, including eight employees of the Central Intelligence Agency; on October 23 the bombing of the Marine barracks at the Beirut airport killed 241 servicemen, which Reagan called “the saddest day of my presidency.” The remaining Marines were withdrawn in February 1984.⁠[9]

After shrinking 2.5 percent in 1982, GNP grew 3.6 percent in 1983 and 6.8 percent in 1984; unemployment fell from 9.5 percent in 1983 to 7.4 percent in 1984 and from 7.1 percent in 1985 to 5.2 percent in 1989. In 1987 the stock market fell about 500 points in one day, though the decline was short-lived.⁠[8]

From 1983 to 1989 the federal deficit was at least $153 billion each year and exceeded $221 billion in 1986; the national debt rose from $914 billion to $2.6 trillion, and interest payments grew from $71 billion to $150 billion. Explanations of the recovery differ, crediting the tax cuts, the 1982 tax increases, the Fed’s change of policy and defense spending, among other factors; gains were uneven, with incomes of the top fifth of families rising 9 percent and those of the bottom fifth falling 8 percent.⁠[8]

Unemployment reached a 14-year low in June 1988; when Reagan left office the country was in its sixth consecutive year of prosperity, accompanied by record deficits and a growing national debt.⁠[7]

Reagan abandoned the language of détente, lifted Carter’s grain embargo and in 1982 restarted talks on reducing nuclear arsenals (START). In 1981 he agreed with European allies to deploy U.S. nuclear missiles in Germany, Britain and Italy.⁠[9]

In March 1983 he called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and unveiled the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a space-based missile shield that critics called “Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is a space-fantasy film and entertainment franchise created by George Lucas and now owned by Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.Open the full entry”; his offer to share SDI research was rejected by the Soviets.⁠[9]

On September 1, 1983, a Soviet fighter shot down Korean Air Lines flight KAL 007, killing 269 people. In November 1983 the NATO “Able Archer” exercise led the Soviets to put their forces on high alert; the West German Bundestag then approved the missile deployments and the Soviets walked out of the Geneva talks.⁠[9]

On October 25, 1983, after a Marxist leader in Grenada was murdered, U.S. forces invaded the island, freeing American medical students and subduing a small Cuban force within days.⁠[9][7]

Republicans renominated Reagan and Bush on the theme “Morning Again in America.” The Democrats nominated former vice president Walter Mondale, with New York congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. Reagan performed poorly in the first October debate but defused the age issue in the second, in Kansas City, with a one-liner about not exploiting his opponent’s youth.⁠[6]

Reagan won about 54 million popular votes to Mondale’s 37 million and 525 electoral votes to 13, carrying every state except MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the north-central United States and the most northerly of the 48 contiguous states; its capital is St. Paul and its largest city is Minneapolis. It was admitted to the Union on May 11, 1858, as the 32nd state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,706,494.Open the full entry, while the District of Columbia went to Mondale. Democrats kept control of the House and Republicans held the Senate.⁠[6]

His 525 of 538 electoral votes were the largest number ever won by a candidate.⁠[10]

After the election Baker and Donald Regan swapped jobs, with Baker going to the Treasury and Regan becoming chief of staff; Meese became attorney general and Deaver went to the private sector.⁠[8]

In his State of the Union address of February 6, 1985, Reagan called support for anti-communist fighters “self-defense,” and the conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer named the approach the “Reagan Doctrine.” The United States backed Afghan resistance to the Soviet occupation and applied the doctrine mainly in Nicaragua and, to a limited degree, in Angola.⁠[9]

Congress passed the Boland Amendment in 1982 to restrict aid to the Contras, the Senate condemned the mining of Nicaraguan harbors by 84 votes to 12, and Congress cut off Contra funding in 1984.⁠[9]

Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader on March 11, 1985. Reagan met him at a summit in Reykjavik on October 11–12, 1986.⁠[7]

Their first meeting, in Geneva in November 1985, laid the groundwork for later summits; at Reykjavik they discussed eliminating nuclear weapons, but the talks collapsed over SDI, which Reagan refused to limit.⁠[9]

After evidence linked Libya to an attack on American soldiers at a West Berlin nightclub, Reagan sent American bombers against Libya.⁠[5]

The operation of April 14, 1986, code-named El Dorado Canyon, involved 200 U.S. aircraft dropping more than sixty tons of bombs; 37 people died, but the Libyan leader Qaddafi survived. In December 1988 a bombing linked to Libya destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.⁠[9][7]

Reagan announced his tax plan in May 1985 and toured the country to promote it, with Senator Bob Packwood and Representative Dan Rostenkowski helping to shape the bill. The law lowered rates while closing loopholes and broadening the tax base, and Reagan signed it on October 22, 1986.⁠[8][7]

The top marginal tax rate, 70 percent when he took office, had fallen to 28 percent by the time he left. Critics said the law weakened progressive taxation, hurt real estate investment, contributed to savings-and-loan problems and did not significantly reduce the deficit.⁠[8]

On November 6, 1986, he signed immigration reform into law.⁠[7]

Despite its declared neutrality in the Iran-Iraq War, the United States sold anti-tank missiles to Iran in hope of freeing hostages held in Lebanon: Israel shipped more than 500 American missiles in August and September 1985 and about 1,000 more in 1986. National Security Council staff led by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North diverted more than $12 million from the sales to the Contras. Reagan formally and secretly approved the Iran initiative on December 7, 1985, but said he did not know about the diversion.⁠[9]

The affair became public in November 1986, and Reagan’s speech of November 13 contained inaccurate statements. He fired North, accepted the resignation of National Security Adviser John Poindexter and appointed the Tower Commission to examine the affair, while independent counsel Lawrence Walsh also investigated. On March 4, 1987, Reagan accepted “full responsibility” for his administration’s actions.⁠[9]

Poindexter was convicted on five felony counts and North on three, but appeals courts set aside the convictions because of their immunized testimony before Congress. Walsh’s final report, issued on August 5, 1993, found no credible evidence that Reagan knew of the diversion.⁠[9]

A congressional report criticized Reagan’s hands-off management style.⁠[7]

Gorbachev visited Washington on December 8–10, 1987, and on December 8 the two leaders signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), which the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library describes as the first arms control agreement to reduce the nuclear arsenal.⁠[7]

The treaty called for the destruction of more than 2,600 Soviet and American nuclear weapons.⁠[9]

The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement was signed on January 2, 1988; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library regards it as having led to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On July 1 Reagan signed the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act.⁠[7]

In June 1988 Reagan visited Moscow, where he spoke with students and said of his “evil empire” remark, “I was talking about another time, another era.” The Soviets, having decided to leave Afghanistan, announced their withdrawal in 1988.⁠[9][7]

Ground was broken for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on November 21, 1988.⁠[7]

Reagan delivered his farewell address on January 11, 1989. On January 20 Bush was inaugurated and the Reagans returned to California.⁠[7][11]

In retirement he lived in Bel Air in Los Angeles; for six years he organized his memoirs and supervised the creation of the library in Simi Valley, California, and before his diagnosis he went once or twice a week to his offices in Century City.⁠[12]

On June 14, 1989, Reagan received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, and on October 23 he received Japan’s Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum in Tokyo. On November 15 he made his first post-presidential visit to the White House, for the unveiling of his official portrait.⁠[11]

He received a $2 million fee for a speech in Japan and, after criticism, declined to schedule other foreign speeches.⁠[12]

On February 16–17, 1990, he gave about seven hours of videotaped testimony in Los Angeles for Poindexter’s trial. That year he met Gorbachev in San Francisco on June 4 and in Moscow on September 17.⁠[11]

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs was dedicated in Simi Valley on November 4, 1991. On May 4, 1992, Reagan presented the first Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to Gorbachev.⁠[11]

On January 4, 1993, Reagan and Jimmy Carter received the first Spark M. Matsunaga Medal for Peace, and on January 13 Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. On May 4, 1994, he joined Carter and Ford in writing to House members urging support for a ban on the domestic manufacture of military-style assault weapons.⁠[11]

On November 5, 1994, Reagan released a letter to the American people saying he had learned that he would be afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and that he was beginning the journey toward “the sunset of my life.” As the disease progressed he largely disappeared from public view.⁠[12]

The Miller Center’s essay judges that the Reagans’ openness about the illness raised public awareness and prompted a wave of donations for research. The Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute was announced on October 31, 1995.⁠[12][11]

On February 6, 2001, Reagan turned 90, only the third U.S. president to reach that age, and on October 11 he surpassed John AdamsJohn AdamsJohn Adams (1735–1826) was the first vice president (1789–1797) and the second president (1797–1801) of the United States. Earlier he served in the Continental Congress, was a signer of the Treaty of Paris and became the first American minister to Great Britain.Open the full entry as the longest-lived U.S. president. On May 16, 2002, Ronald and Nancy Reagan were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal; Nancy Reagan attended the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.⁠[11]

Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, on June 5, 2004, at the age of 93.⁠[11]

On June 7 relatives and close friends held a private ceremony at the library, where he then lay in repose for public viewing until June 8. On June 9 the casket was flown to Washington for a state funeral ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, where he lay in state until June 11. On June 11 a national funeral service was held at Washington National Cathedral, after which the casket was flown back to California for a private interment service at the library.⁠[11]

The state funeral was attended by world leaders, Republicans and Democrats, and thousands of Americans, and he was buried on the grounds of the library.⁠[12]

Reagan became engaged to the actress Jane Wyman in 1938 and married her on January 26, 1940; their daughter Maureen was born on January 14, 1941, and they adopted a son, Michael, on March 18, 1945. They divorced in 1948, with the divorce finalized on June 28, 1949. He was the first divorced president.⁠[3][1]

He met Nancy Davis at a dinner party in 1949 and married her on March 4, 1952, with William Holden as best man; their daughter, Patricia Ann, was born on October 21, 1952, and their son, Ronald Prescott, on May 20, 1958.⁠[1][3]

Maureen Reagan, a businesswoman and Republican leader, died on August 9, 2001; Michael Reagan worked in aerospace defense sales and insurance before becoming a radio talk show host; Patti Davis wrote the 1986 novel Home Front; and Ron Reagan danced with the Joffrey Ballet from 1980 before moving into journalism in 1984.⁠[13]

Reagan was known as “the Great Communicator.” BritannicaEncyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopedia first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768; the name also refers to its publisher, Chicago-based Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (which presents itself as The Britannica Group). The print edition ended in 2012, and the company’s main businesses since then have been the online encyclopedia Britannica.com, digital education products for schools and libraries, and Merriam-Webster dictionaries.Open the full entry credits his policies with contributing to the demise of Soviet communism and notes that he was the only movie actor to become president.⁠[10][1]

The White House biography credits the Reagan years with restoring prosperity at home and bringing the goal of “peace through strength” within reach.⁠[5]

The Miller Center’s essay calls him a transformational president whose four summits with Gorbachev helped set the stage for a peaceful end to the Cold War, while noting that scholars differ on the causes of that end: some stress his military buildup and the pressure of SDI, others unrest in Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Soviet overreach in Afghanistan and the collapse of the Soviet economy.⁠[14]

The essay calls his economic legacy mixed: tax cuts and tighter interest rates from the Fed produced a record period of peacetime growth, but also coincided with record increases in the national debt, the federal budget deficit and the trade deficit, and the supply-side tax cuts did not raise revenue as he had predicted. The economist Robert Samuelson argues that his main economic achievement was his steady support for the Fed, which under his appointee Alan Greenspan kept inflation low.⁠[14]

The essay also judges that his 49-state victory in 1984 opened the way for Bill ClintonBill ClintonBill Clinton (born 1946) is an American politician and lawyer, a Democrat who served as attorney general and governor of Arkansas and as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001.Open the full entry’s centrist nomination and 1992 victory, and that in 1994 Republicans won the House for the first time in 40 years under Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America.”⁠[14]

On April 12, 1990, Reagan dedicated the library’s section of the Berlin Wall.⁠[11]

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum: Official website: https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[15]