Ronald Reagan Biography
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Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 –
June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989)
and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). Reagan was also a
broadcaster, actor, and head of the Screen Actor's Guild before entering
politics.
* * * *
Early life
and career
Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, the
second of two sons to John "Jack" Reagan and Nelle Wilson. One of his
four great-grandfathers had immigrated to the United States from
Ballyporeen, Ireland in the 1860s. Prior to his grandfather's
emigration, the family name had been spelled Regan.
In 1920, after years of moving from town to
town, the family settled in Dixon, Illinois. In 1921, at the age of 10,
Reagan was baptized in his mother's Disciples of Christ church in Dixon,
and in 1924 he began attending Dixon's Northside High School. Reagan
always considered Dixon to be his hometown.
In 1927, at age 16, Reagan took a summer
job as a lifeguard in Lowell Park, two miles away from Dixon on the
nearby Rock River. He continued to work as a lifeguard for the next
seven years, reportedly saving 77 people from drowning. Reagan would
later joke that none of them ever thanked him.
In 1928, Reagan entered Eureka College in
Eureka, Illinois, majoring in economics and sociology and graduating in
1932. In 1929 Ronald Reagan joined Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity which he
recalled during numerous interviews and conversations later in life as
one of the greatest experiences he had during his college years. Though
earning mediocre grades, he made many lasting friendships. Reagan
developed an early gift for storytelling and acting. He was a radio
announcer an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs baseball games, getting only
the bare outlines of the game from a ticker and relying on his
imagination and storytelling gifts to flesh out the game. In fact, he
was a sports radio anouncer in rural Iowa, but still had imagination for
the game... Once in 1934, during the ninth inning of a Cubs-St. Louis
Cardinals game, the wire went dead. Reagan smoothly improvised a
fictional play-by-play (in which hitters on both teams fouled off
pitches) until the wire was restored.
Hollywood
In 1937, whilst in California to cover the
spring training session of the Chicago Cubs as a radio announcer, Reagan
took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the Warner
Brothers studio. Reagan's clear voice and athletic physique made him
popular with some audiences; the majority of his screen roles were as
the leading man in B movies. His first screen credit was the starring
role in the 1937 movie Love Is On the Air. By the end of 1939, he had
appeared in 19 films. In 1940 he played the role of George "The Gipper"
Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American, from which he acquired the
nickname the Gipper, which he retained the rest of his life. Reagan
himself considered his best acting work to have been in Kings Row
(1942). He played the part of a young man whose legs were amputated. He
used a line he spoke in this film, "Where's the rest of me?" as the
title for his autobiography. Other notable Reagan films include Hellcats
of the Navy, This Is the Army, and Bedtime for Bonzo. Reagan was kidded
widely about the last named film because his co-star was a chimpanzee.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6374 Hollywood Blvd.
Nancy Reagan became a powerful background
figure in Ronald Reagan's rise and roles as governor and
president.Reagan was commissioned as a reserve cavalry officer in the
U.S. Army in 1935. After the attack on Pearl Harbor he was activated and
assigned, partially due to his poor eyesight, to the First Motion
Picture Unit in the United States Army Air Force, which made training
and education films. He remained in Hollywood for the duration of the
war, and he attained the rank of captain. Reagan tried repeatedly to go
overseas for combat duty, but was turned down because of his
astigmatism.
Reagan married actress Jane Wyman in 1940.
They had a daughter, Maureen in 1941 and adopted a son, Michael in 1945.
Their second daughter, Christine, was born four months prematurely in
1947 and lived only one day. They divorced in 1948. Reagan remarried in
1952 to actress Nancy Davis. Their daughter Patti was born on October 21
of the same year. In 1958 they had a second child, Ron. In his second
marriage, Reagan was known as a loving and devoted husband.
As Reagan's film roles became fewer in the
late 1950s, he moved into television as a host and frequent performer
for General Electric Theater. In the GE effort, for the first time, he
encountered the working class and labor union population that he had
previously not understood. Insted, Reagan identified with them, which
may be the original nexus between the conservative movement, and the
understanding of the labor unions, which resulted in the,
"Reagan-Democrat," 1984, movement... Reagan appeared in many live
television plays and often co-starred with Nancy. Reagan became head of
the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and served in this position from 1947
until 1952, and then again from 1959 to 1960. In 1952, a Hollywood
scandal raged over his granting of a SAG blanket waiver to MCA, which
allowed it to both represent and employ talent for its burgeoning TV
franchises. He went from host and program supervisor of General Electric
Theater to actually producing and claiming an equity stake in the TV
show itself. At one point in the late 1950s, Reagan was earning
approximately $125,000 per year. His final regular acting job was as
host and performer on Death Valley Days. Reagan's final big-screen
appearance came in the 1964 film The Killers, in which,
uncharacteristically, he played a mob chieftain. This film was a remake
of an earlier version, based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway.
Reagan's co-stars were John Cassavetes and Lee Marvin.
Early
political career
Ronald Reagan began his political life as a
Democrat, supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. He
gradually became a staunch social and fiscal conservative. He embarked
upon the path that led him to a career in politics during his tenure as
president of the Screen Actors Guild. In this position, he testified
before the House Un-American Activities Committee on alleged Communist
influence in Hollywood. He also kept tabs on actors he considered
disloyal and informed on them to the FBI under the code name "Agent
T-10," but he would not denounce them publicly. He supported the
practice of blacklisting in Hollywood. Concluding that the Republican
Party was better able to combat communism, Reagan gradually abandoned
his left-of-center political views, supporting the presidential
candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and Richard Nixon
in 1960—all while Reagan was still a Democrat.
His employment by the General Electric
company further enhanced his political image; he travelled widely as a
GE spokesman, and was noted for his anti-Communist speeches. By the 1964
election, Reagan was an outspoken supporter of conservative Republican
Barry Goldwater. His nationally televised speech "A Time for Choosing"
electrified conservatives; soon after, several top Republican
contributors visited Reagan at his home in Pacific Palisades,
California, urging him to seek the governorship in 1966. Though these
requests were initially "laughed off" by Reagan, he says in his
autobiography, he eventually gave in, after countless sleepless nights.
Governorship
In 1966, he was elected the 33rd Governor
of California, defeating two-term incumbent Pat Brown; he was re-elected
in 1970, defeating Jesse Unruh, but chose not to seek a third term.
During the People's Park protests, he sent 2,200 National Guard troops
into the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Reagan made it
clear that the policies of his administration would not be influenced by
the student agitators nor their actions tolerated, even "if it takes a
bloodbath." When the kidnappers of Patty Hearst demanded the
distribution of food to the poor, Reagan suggested it would be a good
time for an outbreak of botulism.
During his first term, he froze government
hiring, but also approved tax hikes to balance the budget. One of
Reagan's greatest frustrations in office concerned capital punishment.
He had campaigned as a strong supporter; however, his efforts to enforce
the state's laws in this area were thwarted when the Supreme Court of
California issued its People v. Anderson decision, which invalidated all
death sentences passed in California prior to 1972. Although the
decision was quickly overturned by a constitutional amendment, there
would not be another execution in California until 1992.
During his governorship, Reagan actively
dismantled the public psychiatric hospital system, proposing that a
community-based housing and treatment system replace it. According to
some Reagan critics, the first objective was effectively accomplished,
but the community replacement facilities were never adequately funded,
either by Reagan or by his successors. Also, a statewide teachers'
strike started in Los Angeles due to disagreements with Reagan's
cost-cutting plans.
Presidential campaigns
Reagan's first attempt to gain the
Republican presidential nomination in 1968 was unsuccessful. He tried
again in 1976 against the incumbent Gerald Ford, but was narrowly
defeated at the Republican Convention. He finally succeeded in gaining
the Republican nomination in 1980. The campaign, led by William J.
Casey, was conducted in the shadow of the Iran hostage crisis; some
analysts believe President Jimmy Carter's inability to solve the hostage
crisis played a large role to Reagan's victory against him in the 1980
election. Other issues in the campaign included inflation, lackluster
economic growth, instability in the petroleum market leading to a return
of gas lines, and the perceived weakness of the U.S. national defense.
Reagan's showing in the televised debates
boosted his campaign. He seemed more at ease, mocking President Carter's
criticisms with remarks like "There you go again." Perhaps his most
influential remark was a closing question to the audience, during a time
of skyrocketing global oil prices and highly unpopular Federal Reserve
interest rate hikes, "Are you better off today than you were four years
ago?" Many critics also point to the so-called October Surprise as
instrumental in securing Reagan's victory. That the hostages were
released just after his taking the oath of office is alleged by some to
lend credence to this idea.
The change the White House was accompanied
by an 12-seat change in the Senate from Democratic to Republican hands,
giving the Republicans a majority in the Senate for the first time in 28
years. Upon his election, Reagan became the oldest president to enter
office, at the age of 69.
In the 1984 presidential election, he was
re-elected in a landslide over Carter's Vice President Walter Mondale,
winning 49 of 50 states and receiving nearly 60 percent of the popular
vote. At the Democratic National Convention, Mondale accepted the party
nomination with a speech that is believed to have constituted a
self-inflicted mortal wound. In it he remarked "Reagan will raise taxes,
I will raise taxes. Reagan won't tell you this, I just did." Reagan
accepted the Republican nomination in Dallas, Texas, on a wave of good
feeling bolstered by the recovering economy and the dominating
performance by the U.S. athletes at the Los Angeles Olympics that
summer. Despite a weak performance in the first debate, Reagan recovered
in the second and was considerably ahead of Mondale in polls taken
throughout much of the race. Reagan's landslide win in the 1984
presidential election is often attributed by political commentators to
be a result of his conversion of the so-called "Reagan Democrats," the
traditionally Democratic voters who voted for Reagan in that election.
Presidency
Domestic
record
Ronald Reagan portrayed himself as being
conservative, anti-communist, in favor of tax cuts and smaller
government. Reagan also liked to think of himself and was thought of by
many others as being supportive of business interests and tough on
crime.
Reagan's first official act upon taking the
presidency was to terminate oil price controls, a policy designed to
boost America's domestic production and exploration of oil. Perhaps the
high point of the Reagan presidency's first 100 days was the freeing of
American hostages in Tehran at the conclusion of the Iran hostage
crisis, within minutes of his inauguration.
While leaving the Hilton Hotel in
Washington, DC on March 30, 1981, Reagan, his Press Secretary James
Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and MPDC officer Thomas
Delanty were shot by John Hinckley, Jr.. Reagan turned what could have
been a low point in his first 100 days into another high point by
remarking "I hope you're all Republicans," to his surgeons and "Honey, I
forgot to duck" to his wife. Reagan also said that he forgave Hinckley
and hoped he asked God's forgiveness as well.
In the summer of 1981 Reagan fired a
majority of the nation's air traffic controllers when they went on a
illegal strike. Since this union was one of the only two unions to
support Reagan in the prior election, this action proved to be a
political coup for Reagan as the public came to perceive the strikers as
greedy and unconcerned with public safety while Reagan was perceived as
willing to do the right thing regardless of political consequences. Not
only did this set limits for public employee unions, but also signaled
that it was acceptable for businesses to play hardball with unions.
A large focus of Reagan's first term was
reviving the stagflation-troubled economy his administration inherited.
His administration sought to fight the high inflation recession with
large across-the-board tax cuts, controversially combined with
reductions in social welfare spending. Reagan's fiscal theories were
variously referred to as "Reaganomics", "Trickle-down economics", and
"Voodoo Economics". (This final epithet was used by George H. W. Bush in
the Republican presidential primary of 1980. Once Bush was offered the
position of Vice President on the Republican ticket, he immediately
halted its use.) Despite the epithet, after Reagan was able to
significantly cut income tax rates, tax revenues did indeed rise as
predicted along with the rejuvenated economy, doubling by the end of the
decade. However, the increased military spending that the Reagan
administration claimed necessary to fight the Cold War, along with a
rise in expenditure on social programs, resulted in record deficit
spending and a tripling of the national debt by the end of his second
term. At the same time, the inflation rate, which had been 13 percent in
1979, came down to under 4 percent in 1982. Unemployment also dropped
from 7.5 percent in the year that Reagan took office to 5.2 percent in
the year that he left.
A renewal of the "war on drugs" was also
declared during his presidency, spearheaded by Nancy Reagan's
high-profile "Just Say No" series of messages.
President Reagan was criticized by the gay
rights movement and others for not responding quickly enough to the
HIV-AIDS epidemic. The first official mention of the disease in the
White House was on October 15, 1982 when Reagan's press secretary Larry
Speakes, in response to a reporter's inquiry about "the gay plague,"
said "I don't have it, do you?" to general laughter. (It should be noted
that AIDS was just beginning to be understood at this time. The term
AIDS had been coined that year and was not yet widely used--hence the
reporter calling it "the gay plague" instead. HIV, the virus which
causes AIDS, would not be identified until 1983.) Reagan himself first
publicly discussed the federal government's role in fighting the disease
at a press conference in 1985. Reagan's polices in regards to AIDS and
gay rights became a subject of controversy after his death. Liberals and
libertarians pointed out that he had gone on record as supporting sodomy
laws, opposing anti-discrimination laws including sexual orientation,
and the conservative United States Supreme Court Justices that he
appointed would help produce the majority opinion in the 1986 case of
Bowers v. Hardwick. Yet, after his death, family members and gay
conservatives pointed out that he opposed the 1978 California anti-gay
Briggs Initiative. In 1984 he had the first openly gay couple spend the
night in the White House. He is said to have taught his children that
homosexuality was a normal state of being for some people and considered
actor Rock Hudson to be a longtime friend.
Reagan made the abolition of communism and
the implementation of supply-side economics the primary focuses of his
presidency, but he also took a strong stand against abortion. He
published the book Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation, which
decried what Reagan saw as a disrespect for life, promoted by the
practice of abortion. Many conservative activists refer to Reagan as the
most pro-life president in history. (However, two of the three Supreme
Court justices he selected, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy,
voted to uphold Roe v. Wade, to Reagan's disappointment.)
Although Reagan's second term was mostly
noteworthy for matters related to foreign affairs, his administration
supported significant pieces of legislation on domestic matters,
including an overhaul of the Internal Revenue Code in 1986, as well as
the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which compensated victims of the
Japanese American Internment during World War II. Reagan also signed
legislation authorizing the death penalty for offenses involving murder
in the context of large-scale drug trafficking; wholesale reinstatement
of the federal death penalty would not occur until the presidency of
Bill Clinton.
Foreign
policy and interventions
Reagan forcefully confronted the Soviet
Union, marking a sharp departure from the détente observed by his
predecessors Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. Sensing that
planned economies could not compete against market economies in a
renewed arms race, he made the Cold War economically and rhetorically
hot. The administration oversaw a massive military build-up that
represented a policy of "Peace through strength." The Reagan
administration set a new policy toward the Soviet Union with the goal to
win the Cold War through a three-pronged strategy outlined in NSDD-32
(National Security Decisions Directive). The directive outlined Reagan's
plan to confront the Soviet Union on three fronts: 1. Economic -
decrease Soviet access to high technology and diminish their resources,
including depressing the value of Soviet commodities on the world market
2. Military - increase American defense expenditures to strengthen the
US negotiating position and force the Soviets to devote more of their
economic resources to defense, 3. Clandestine - support anti-Soviet
factions around the world from Afghanistan resistance fighters in his
early years to Solidarity later in his presidency. Former Prime Minister
of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher said, "Ronald Reagan won the
Cold War without firing a shot."
Others argued, however, that the eventual
collapse of the Soviet Union was due more to internal separatist
problems, an inherent weakness in communist economic theory, and the
depressed global price of crude oil, on which the Soviet economy during
those years depended heavily. Lech Wałęsa, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Pope
John Paul II, Boris Yeltsin and, of course, Mikhail Gorbachev also
played significant roles in the dissolution of the Soviet bloc.
Among European leaders, his main ally and
undoubtedly his closest friend was Thatcher, who as Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom supported Reagan's policies of deterrence against the
Soviets.
Although the administration negotiated
arms-reduction treaties such as the INF Treaty and START Treaty with the
USSR, it also aimed to increase strategic defense. A controversial plan,
named the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), was proposed to deploy a
space-based defense system that was supposed to make the U.S.
invulnerable to nuclear weapon missile attack by means of a network of
armed satellites orbiting the earth. Critics dubbed the proposal "Star
Wars" and argued that SDI was unrealistic and would likely inflame the
Arms Race. Supporters responded that even the threat of SDI forced the
Soviets into unsustainable spending to keep up. In fact, the Soviets did
not attempt to follow suit with their own program, but instead followed
a program of arms reduction treaties. The technology required to
implement SDI is still being researched in the United States, and it is
currently in a test phase with stations in Alaska and islands in the
Pacific Oceans.
Support for anti-communist groups including
armed insurgencies against communist governments was also a part of
administration policy, referred to by his supporters as the Reagan
Doctrine. Following this policy, the administration funded "freedom
fighters"—described as terrorists by their detractors—such as the
mujahideen in Afghanistan, the Contras in Nicaragua, and Jonas Savimbi's
rebel forces in Angola. The administration also helped fund central
European anti-communist groups such as the Polish Solidarity movement
and took a hard line against the Communist regime in Cambodia. Covert
funding of the Contras in Nicaragua would lead to the Iran Contra
Affair, while overt support led to a World Court ruling against the
United States in Nicaragua v. United States.
The administration considered groups
resisting Israeli occupations, such as Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon,
Palestinian guerrillas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and left-wing
guerrillas fighting US-backed right-wing military dictatorships in
Honduras and El Salvador to be terrorists. The Reagan administration
also considered guerrillas of the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK
or Spear of the Nation) and other anti-apartheid militants (e.g. the
PAC) fighting the apartheid government in South Africa to be terrorists.
U.S. involvement in Lebanon followed a
limited term United Nations mandate for a Multinational Force. A force
of 800 U.S. Marines was sent to Beirut to evacuate PLO forces. The
September 16, 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in
Beirut (see Sabra and Shatila Massacre) prompted Reagan to form a new
multinational force. Intense administration diplomatic efforts resulted
in a peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. U.S. forces were
withdrawn shortly after the October 23, 1983 bombing of a barracks in
which 241 Marines were killed. Reagan called this day the saddest day of
his life and of his presidency.
A communist coup on the small island nation
of Grenada in 1983 led the administration to develop an invasion plan to
restore the former government. The resulting Operation Urgent Fury was
successful.
Initially neutral, the administration
increasingly became involved in the Iran-Iraq War. At various times, the
administration supported both nations, but mainly sided with Iraq,
believing that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was less dangerous than
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini. The American fear was that an Iranian
victory would embolden Islamic fundamentalists in other Arab states,
perhaps leading to the overthrow of secular governments in Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, and Kuwait. After initial Iraqi military victories were reversed
and an Iranian victory appeared possible in 1982, the American
government initiated Operation Staunch to attempt to cut off the Iranian
regime's access to weapons (notwithstanding their later shipment of
weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra Affair). The United States also
provided intelligence information and financial assistance to the Iraqi
military regime. The Administration also allowed the shipment of some
chemical, biological and "dual use" materials, which Iraq claimed were
required for agriculture, medical research, and other civilian purposes,
but which were diverted to use in Saddam's weapons of mass destruction
programs, although most Iraqi weaponry was supplied by Germany, Britain,
France and the USSR.
Concurrent with the support of Iraq, the
Administration also engaged in covert arms sales to Iran in order to
fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua. The resulting Iran-Contra Affair became
a scandal. Reagan professed ignorance of the plot's existence and
quickly called for an Independent Counsel to investigate the scandal.
The President was eventually found to be culpable of lax control over
his own staff. A significant number of officials in the Reagan
Administration were either convicted or forced to resign as a result of
the scandal.
In 1985, on an official visit to West
Germany, Reagan laid a wreath at a cemetery where approximately 50 SS
soldiers were buried along with many German regular army veterans of
both World Wars. This visit incited a great deal of controversy; see
Bitburg for more details concerning the visit.
"The Great
Communicator"
Reagan was dubbed "The Great Communicator"
for his ability to express ideas and emotions in an almost personal
manner, even when making a formal address. He honed these skills as an
actor, live television and radio host, and politician, and as president
hired skilled speechwriters who could capture his folksy charm.
Reagan's rhetorical style varied. He used
strong, even bombastic language to condemn the Soviet Union and
communism, particularly during his first term.
But he could also evoke lofty ideals and a
vision of the United States as a defender of liberty. His October 27,
1964 speech entitled "A Time for Choosing" re-introduced a phrase,
"rendezvous with destiny," first made famous by Franklin Roosevelt, to
popular culture. Other speeches recalled America as the "shining city on
a hill", "big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair," whose
citizens had the "right to dream heroic dreams."
On January 28, 1986, after the Challenger
accident, he postponed his State of the Union address and addressed the
nation on the disaster. In a speech written by Peggy Noonan he said, "We
will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as
they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and 'slipped the
surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'" (The quote within
Reagan's quote is from the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee.)
It was perhaps Reagan's humor, especially
his one-liners, that disarmed his opponents and endeared him to
audiences the most. Discussion of his advanced age led him to quip in
his second debate against Walter Mondale during the 1984 campaign, "I
will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit,
for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." On his
career he joked "Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there
are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."
Both opponents and supporters noted his
"sunny optimism", which was welcomed by many in comparison to his
Presidential predecessor - the often smiling, but somewhat dour and
serious, Carter.
Despite his persona, he was often at odds
with Vice President, George H.W Bush who often criticized Reagan's
supply-side economic theories, to which he referred to as "voodoo
economics". This comment would forever damage relations between the
Reagan and Bush families as the former often did not invite the latter
to their house.
Criticisms
A frequent objection by his critics,
however, was that his personal charm also permitted him to say nearly
anything and yet prevail, a quality that earned him the nickname "the
Teflon President" (i.e., to whom nothing sticks). His denial of
awareness of the Iran-Contra illegalities was belied by quotations in
now-archived notes by his defense secretary, Casper Weinberger, that he
(Reagan) could survive violating the law or Constitution, but not the
negative public image that "big, strong Ronald Reagan passed up a chance
to get the hostages free." However, in the almost twenty years since the
Iran-Contra affair, no "smoking gun" has yet been revealed to show that
he in fact did know about trading arms for hostages. Reagan-era papers
were originally scheduled to be released starting in 2001, but President
George W. Bush enacted a rule change to allow these to be withheld
indefinitely. Reagan was also faulted for considering Nelson Mandela a
terrorist. His fiscal and tax policies were said by some to have
increased social inequality and economic instability. His efforts to cut
benefits and raise payroll taxes, which primarily impact middle and
lower income workers, while lowering income taxes, which primarily
impact upper income workers, were a common flashpoint of criticism. The
unprecedented growth of the national debt during his presidency sparked
charges of endangering the economic health of the nation.
Residents of Western European countries
often saw Reagan very differently from many Americans. In the United
Kingdom, Reagan – though he had the strong support of Margaret Thatcher
– was routinely lampooned by the media and public as being dim-witted,
if not senile. This was fueled by certain real-life incidents, including
a London speaking engagement in which he forgot the name of Diana,
Princess of Wales and after some hesitation referred to her as 'Princess
David', to widespread embarrassment. In the nations of Eastern Europe,
however, Reagan enjoyed a good deal of popularity among residents
(though not their governments) for his harsh criticism of communism, and
has been praised extensively for his role in ending the Cold War.
* * * *
Supreme
Court appointments
Reagan appointed the following Justices to
the Supreme Court of the United States:
Sandra Day O'Connor – 1981
William Rehnquist – Chief Justice, 1986 (an
associate justice since 1972)
Antonin Scalia – 1986
Anthony M. Kennedy – 1988
Major
legislation approved
Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981
Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of
1982
Social Security Amendments of 1983
Tax Reform Act of 1986
Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986
Religious
beliefs
Reagan was a committed Christian from his
childhood, and frequently addressed Christian groups. He argued that
communism's atheistic worldview was one of its worst features.
In a March 1978 letter to a liberal
Methodist minister who was skeptical about Christ's divinity—and accused
Reagan of a "limited Sunday school level theology"—Reagan argued
strongly for Christ's divinity:
Perhaps it is true that Jesus never used
the word "Messiah" with regard to himself (although I'm not sure that he
didn't) but in John 1, 10 and 14 he identifies himself pretty definitely
and more than once. Is there really any ambiguity in his words: "I am
the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by
me?"… In John 10 he says, "I am in the Father and the Father in me." And
he makes reference to being with God, "before the world was," and
sitting on the "right hand of God."…
These and other statements he made about
himself, foreclose in my opinion, any question as to his divinity. It
doesn't seem to me that he gave us any choice; either he was what he
said he was or he was the world's greatest liar."
It is impossible for me to believe a liar
or charlatan could have had the effect on mankind that he has had for
2000 years. We could ask, would even the greatest of liars carry his lie
through the crucifixion, when a simple confession would have saved him?
… Did he allow us the choice you say that you and others have made, to
believe in his teachings but reject his statements about his own
identity?"
This was similar to the "Trilemma" argument
of C.S. Lewis.
Even though Reagan was firmly Christian,
his funeral was an interfaith service.
Legacy and
retirement from public life
On January 11, 1989, Ronald Reagan
addressed the nation one last time on television from the Oval Office of
the White House, nine days before handing over the presidency to George
H. W. Bush. After Bush's inauguration, Reagan returned to his ranch near
Santa Barbara, California, to write his autobiography, ride his horses,
and chop wood. He eventually moved to a new home in Bel-Air . As of
2005, Reagan is one of only three presidents to serve two full terms
since the adoption of the 22nd Amendment in 1951 (The others are Dwight
D. Eisenhower and Bill Clinton).
Reagan received an honorary knighthood, as
a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and thus was entitled to
use the postnominal GCB, but he is almost never styled this way. Reagan
and George H. W. Bush are the only two American presidents to receive
honorary knighthood.
In the autumn of 1989, Fujisankei
Communications Group of Japan hired him to make two speeches and attend
a small number of corporate functions. Reagan's weekly fee was about two
million dollars, more than he had earned during eight years as
president. Reagan made occasional appearances on behalf of the
Republican party, including a well-received speech at the 1992
Republican National Convention. He publicly spoke out in favor of a
line-item veto, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget,
and repealing the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits a president from
serving more than two terms.
In 1994, Reagan was officially diagnosed
with Alzheimer's disease. He informed the nation of his condition on
November 5, 1994 with a hand-written letter, which displayed his
trademark optimism, stating in conclusion: "I now begin the journey that
will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there
will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God
always bless you." As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed
his mental capacity, forcing him to live in quiet isolation.
In a 1995 poll of 2,307 coin collectors by
the Littleton Coin Company, Reagan was ranked as the most popular person
to appear on a future U.S. coin.
On February 6, 1998, Washington National
Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport by a bill signed into
law by President Bill Clinton. Three years later, on March 4, 2001, the
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) was christened by the Navy. It is one of few
ships christened in honor of a living person and the first to be named
in honor of a living former president. Many other highways, schools and
institutions were also named after Reagan in the years after his
retirement and death. (See List of things named after Ronald Reagan).
Reagan's health was further destabilized by
a fall in 2001, which shattered part of his hip and rendered him
virtually immobile. By 2004, Reagan had begun to enter the final stage
of Alzheimer's. It is frequently reported that Secret Service agents had
to inform Reagan every morning that he was once the president.
* * * *
Death and
posthumous honors
In 2003, Reagan's death was incorrectly
announced by CNN when his pre-written obituary (along with those of
several other famous figures) was inadvertently published on CNN's web
site due to a lapse in password protection.
Reagan died on June 5, 2004 at his home in
Bel-Air and is buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Reagan holds the record as the longest
lived U.S. president, at 93 years and 120 days. Since Reagan's death,
Gerald Ford is now the oldest surviving president at 91, and if he lives
until November 11, 2006, he will hold the new record. Reagan also holds
the record as the oldest-elected president at 69 and oldest president to
serve at 77.
In 2005, Reagan was given two posthumous
honors:
On May 14, CNN, along with the editors of
TIME, named him the "most fascinating person" of the network's first 25
years.
On June 26, participating voters selected
Reagan as the "Greatest American" during a live television special
sponsored by AOL and broadcast live on the Discovery Channel.
* * * *
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