Posted on 02/06/2023 7:24:27 AM PST by Perseverando
Ronald Reagan, originally an American actor and politician, became the 40th President of the United States serving from 1981 to 1989. His term saw a restoration of prosperity at home, with the goal of achieving “peace through strength” abroad.
At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore “the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism.”
On February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and then worked his way through Eureka College. There, he studied economics and sociology, played on the football team, and acted in school plays. Upon graduation, he became a radio sports announcer. A screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films.
From his first marriage to actress Jane Wyman, he had two children, Maureen and Michael. Maureen passed away in 2001. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis, who was also an actress, and they had two children, Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.
As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan became embroiled in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry; his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. He toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for conservatism. In 1966 he was elected Governor of California by a margin of a million votes; he was re-elected in 1970.
Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.
Dealing skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit.
A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro.
In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.
In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve “peace through strength.” During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub.
By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa.
Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be within grasp.
Here is Reagan on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Reagan knew how to make important information fun and interesting to the public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNmnmdtcdcg
Indeed, he did!
Today is the date of my maternal grandmother’s birth as well. She passed away in 2000 at the age of 96. She was proud to share a birthday with Reagan and was delighted to receive a birthday card from him one year. I’m not sure which family member arranged that but she was so proud of that card!
June 2004.
i remember standing in the Atlanta airport waiting for a flight.
dozens of other men, also standing, all fixed on the tv.
and those damn onions.
Granted, not all had access to the same technology, but Reagan will be very hard to beat as the best communicator.
That’s a very nice story.
Yes, that was a LOOOOONG time ago.
We haven’t even had a good Pope in a long time.
Look around the globe, no good leaders anywhere to be found.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
― Ronald Reagan
Not the best - because it comes from “the White House”!
Undoubtedly controlled by commie liberals.
Walked by the casket in the Rotunda!
Reagan was also the last president we will have that was a Trooper in the Horse Cavalry.
President Reagan’s June 2004 state funeral in Washington
“But if one looked towards the caisson, the Army artillery cart traditionally used to bear the coffin in military funerals, there was a truly rare and moving sight that will never occur again in American history.
The caisson was pulled by four magnificent Army horses. Close to them, to the sound of slowly beating, muffled drums, a soldier on foot led a riderless horse named Sergeant York, to represent the fallen Commander-in-Chief. There in the stirrups, turned backward, were Reagan’s Model 1940 US Cavalry riding boots and spurs. This old Cavalry practice continued a Roman tradition in which a slain leader symbolically faces and salutes his men on the way to his final resting place,
Ronald Reagan is the last President who was a veteran of the United States Horse Cavalry, a living link to the mounted Cavalry of American mythology.”
In my book, both Benedict and JP II were good, even great, Popes. Not perfect, either as men or Popes, but it's too much to expect every Pope to reach that standard. Before them, we've had a long string of good, even saintly Popes. You'd have to go pretty far back to find one as disappointing as our present model.
It’s interesting how world leaders copy eachother. In the 80’s we had Reagan,Thatcher Kohl, and Mitterrand destroying the evil empire and reestablishing the western world. Now we have Biden,Trudeau, Macron, etc. destroying it !
Benedict was good but got cut short by commies, likely. JP is the one mostly referred to because he worked with Reagan and Thatcher.
If only we could’ve had them all together longer.
In 1986, I was a college delegate for some business in DC. Upon arrival at the airport, the driver from my hotel said “Hurry up and grab your bag. We need to get you to the hotel, asap!!” I asked him “Why, what’s wrong?”. The driver said “It’s a surprise! Hurry!”
I complied and he rushed me to the hotel and pulled over near the curb, then told me to get out and go stand on near the the driveway into the basement parking, yelling “Get your camera ready! The PRESIDENT IS COMING IN, ANY MINUTE NOW!” I hustled to get my little Kodak Instamatic ready and stood there for only a minute as, right on cue, the small motorcade came down the hill (nothing in size to what they are today), and Reagan’s more modest “Beast” turned just feet in front of me, and there he was, on the left side - my side - smiling and giving a wave! I snapped a hurried but decent pic (which I sadly lost a few years ago).
It was my very first trip to DC and the first thing I see of any note is the greatest president of our time - with a wave! I wish I could more properly tipped the driver, in hindsight.
Not to rain on RR’s B-day parade but his greatness needs to be re-calibrated.
“The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986 (42 U.S.C. §§ 300aa-1 to 300aa-34) was signed into law by United States President Ronald Reagan as part of a larger health bill on November 14, 1986. NCVIA’s purpose was to eliminate the potential financial liability of vaccine manufacturers due to vaccine injury claims[1] to ensure a stable market supply of vaccines, and to provide cost-effective arbitration for vaccine injury claims.[2] Under the NCVIA, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) was created to provide a federal no-fault system for compensating vaccine-related injuries or death by establishing a claim procedure involving the United States Court of Federal Claims and special masters.[1][3]”
Trumps too (Warp Speed).
I was going to write “those were the goof old days,” and then I read this from the article: “At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.” So now I’m writing that those were the great old days. Besides, I was married the same year he became president in 1981.
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