Ronald Reagan was the 40th president and served in 1981-1989. HE was born in Tampico, Illinois in 1911. Before he was elected president Reagan was the 33rd governor of California in 1967-1975. Before his position as governor, Ronald Reagan was actually a radio and TV star. From 1937-1945, Reagan was a captain in the US Army and Army Air Forces.
Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico Illinois, and was then raised in Dixon Illinois. Ronald Reagan had an older brother Neil, and his parents were Jack Reagan and Nelle Reagan. Reagan and his family traveled and moved around Illinois a lot, because of his father being a salesperson. Ever since Reagan was a little boy he was always against racial discrimination. He said in an interview, how he recalled a time in Dixon when the local hotel wouldn’t let blacks into their hotel. So Nelle (Ronald’s mom) would let the stay at their house and serve them breakfast. During High school Reagan gained his interests in acting, sports, and storytelling.
After High School, Regan attended Eureka College; he majored in economics and sociology. During college he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, he also became a cheerleader during his college years. During his college years, Reagan became extremely busy and was soon known as a jack of all trades. He was a member of the football team, captain of the swim team, a head cheerleader, and was eventually elected student body president. During his time as student body president, he led a student revolt when the college president tried to cut back faculty.
After graduating college in 1932, Regan moved to Iowa and began auditioning in small towns for a radio broadcasting job. He was hired at the University of Iowa and was paid 10 dollars a game to broadcast home football games for the Hawkeyes. After his job at Iowa University, he moved to Davenport and was hired at WOC and earned 100 dollars an hour. After that short lived career he moved to Des Moines and was an announcer for the Chicago Cubs baseball games. He travelled with the Cubs to California, where he then took a screen test in 1937. He gained a contract with Warner Brothers, he spent many years on small movie and TV sets, mostly being overshadowed by many big time actors, but the screen time he did get, got many good reviews.
On April 29, 1937, Ronald Reagan enlisted as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry in Des Moines. A month later he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Reagan was actually ordered to serve active duty, but due to his nearsightedness, he wasn’t able to go overseas. After his time in the military and his years on TV, Reagan married Jane Wyman on January 25, 1940. Together they gave birth to two children, Maureen and Michael, and adopted another, Michael. After having many some arguments about Reagan’s political stand points, Ronald and Jane got divorced. This made Reagan the only president who got a divorce in 1949. Only a short time after, Reagan met Nancy Davis. After 3 years, the two get married in Los Angles.
In early December of 1945, Regan began his early political career. He began as a member of the Democratic political party. After many years of getting to know a Republican Nancy Davis, his views shifted and in the early 1960’s his official party changed to the Republican Party. Even though he stated he was always against racial discrimination, in the early 1960’s Reagan was quoted as saying “if an individual wants confused many people, and made them question his credibility itself. Then in 1967 until 1975, he was elected Governor of California.
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