Discover the career path of Ronald Reagan, from the first major opportunity to industry-changing achievements.
Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President (1981-1989), was a pivotal figure in the American conservative movement. A Republican, he implemented supply-side economics, dubbed "Reaganomics," which aimed to reduce government spending and taxes to stimulate economic growth. Reagan strengthened the military, challenged the Soviet Union, and is credited by some with helping to end the Cold War. Domestically, he faced challenges like the AIDS epidemic and the Iran-Contra affair. Before his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and Governor of California.
In the October 28 debate, Reagan later asked the audience if they were better off than they were four years ago, slightly paraphrasing Roosevelt's words in 1934.
In 1936, while traveling with the Chicago Cubs, Ronald Reagan had a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with Warner Bros.
In 1937, Ronald Reagan arrived in Hollywood and debuted in the film "Love Is on the Air" (1937).
In 1937, Ronald Reagan relocated to California and began his acting career.
In 1938, Ronald Reagan acted in Brother Rat.
In 1940, Ronald Reagan portrayed George Gipp in the film "Knute Rockne, All American", a role that would later give him the nickname "the Gipper".
In 1941, Gallup polls placed Ronald Reagan "in the top 100 stars", indicating his rising stardom.
In 1945, Reagan planned to lead an anti-nuclear rally with HICCASP, but Warner Bros. prevented him from participating.
In 1946, Reagan appeared in a radio program called Operation Terror, where he spoke out against rising Ku Klux Klan activity, denouncing it as a "capably organized systematic campaign of fascist violence and intimidation and horror".
On March 10, 1947, Ronald Reagan was elected as the president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) following Robert Montgomery's resignation.
In 1947, Ronald Reagan began his first term as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
In 1948, Reagan supported Harry S. Truman in the presidential election.
In 1948, negotiations began between the SAG and film producers for the right to receive residual payments.
In 1950, Reagan supported Helen Gahagan Douglas for the U.S. Senate.
On November 10, 1952, Ronald Reagan resigned as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
In 1952, Reagan supported the presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower, marking a shift to the right in his political views.
In 1952, Ronald Reagan's first tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild ended.
On November 4, 1980, Republicans won a majority of seats in the Senate for the first time since 1952 while Democrats retained the House of Representatives.
On November 16, 1959, Ronald Reagan was elected SAG president for the second time.
In 1959, Ronald Reagan began his second term as president of the Screen Actors Guild.
On June 7, 1960, Ronald Reagan resigned from the SAG presidency and left the board.
In 1960, Reagan supported the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon, further indicating his shift to the right.
In 1960, Ronald Reagan concluded his second term as president of the Screen Actors Guild.
In 1961, Reagan adapted his speeches into another speech to criticize Medicare, viewing its legislation as a threat to "the end of individual freedom in the United States".
In 1962, "General Electric Theater", hosted by Ronald Reagan, was canceled due to declining viewership.
In 1962, after being dropped by General Electric (GE), Reagan formally registered as a Republican, solidifying his move away from the Democratic party.
In 1964, Reagan gave a speech titled "A Time for Choosing" for presidential contender Barry Goldwater, which, although not enough to turn around Goldwater's campaign, significantly increased Reagan's profile among conservatives.
In 1964, Ronald Reagan delivered his "A Time for Choosing" speech, which marked the beginning of his rise as a prominent conservative figure.
In 1965, Ronald Reagan became the host of the television program "Death Valley Days".
In January 1966, Reagan announced his candidacy for the California governorship, reiterating his stances on individual freedom and limited government.
In 1967, Reagan signed the Mulford Act, which prohibited the public carrying of firearms, and the Therapeutic Abortion Act that allowed abortions in the cases of rape and incest. He later expressed regret over signing the Therapeutic Abortion Act.
After Reagan won the 1966 election, he and his advisors planned a run in the 1968 Republican presidential primaries. He ran as an unofficial candidate to cut into Nixon's southern support and be a compromise candidate if there were to be a brokered convention. He won California's delegates, but Nixon secured enough delegates for the nomination.
Later in September of 1988, legislation was passed to correct loopholes in the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
On February 5, 1969, Reagan declared a state of emergency at the University of California, Berkeley in response to ongoing protests and violence, sending in the California Highway Patrol.
In May 1969, California Highway Patrol officers, along with local officers, clashed with protestors over People's Park. One student was shot and killed. Reagan commanded National Guard troops to occupy Berkeley for seventeen days.
In February 1970, Reagan deployed the National Guard near the University of California, Santa Barbara, due to violent protests.
During his victorious reelection campaign in 1970, Reagan promised to prioritize welfare reform, concerned about the growing welfare rolls.
During the 1970 gubernatorial election, Unruh used Reagan's tax policy against him, claiming it favored the wealthy. Reagan countered that he remained committed to reducing property taxes.
In 1971, Reagan softened his criticism of Nixon's Family Assistance Plan. Nixon then lifted regulations to shepherd California's experiment.
In 1972, Reagan was concerned about the growing welfare rolls would lead to both an unbalanced budget and another big tax hike.
In 1972, Reagan's efforts to enforce capital punishment were thwarted by People v. Anderson.
By 1973, the budget had a surplus, which Reagan preferred "to give back to the people".
In 1974, Reagan declined to run for the governorship, which was won by Pat Brown's son, Jerry.
In 1974, the Employment Development Department published a report suggesting that the welfare experiment that ran from 1971 to 1974 was unsuccessful.
On November 20, 1975, Reagan announced his presidential campaign, discussing economic and social problems, and to a lesser extent, foreign affairs.
In 1976, the Employment Development Department published a report suggesting that the welfare experiment that ran from 1971 to 1974 was unsuccessful.
In 1977, Ford told Cannon that Reagan's primary challenge contributed to his own narrow loss to Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.
In 1977, Reagan emerged as a vocal critic of President Carter.
The general election pitted Reagan against Carter amid the multitude of domestic concerns and the ongoing Iran hostage crisis that began on November 4, 1979.
On November 13, 1979, Reagan announced his 1980 presidential campaign with an indictment of the federal government, stressing tax cuts, small government, and a strong national defense.
On November 4, 1980, Reagan won a decisive victory in the Electoral College over Carter, carrying 44 states, also winning the popular vote by a narrower margin.
Heading into 1980, Reagan's age became an issue among the press, and the United States was in a severe recession.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan attempted to appeal to Black voters, but would receive the lowest Black vote for a Republican presidential candidate at the time.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Republican Party's nomination and the presidential election against Jimmy Carter.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States, commenting on the country's economic malaise and stating that "government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem".
On January 28, 1981, Reagan lifted federal oil and gasoline price controls as part of his economic policies.
In August 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike. Reagan responded by firing roughly 12,000 striking air traffic controllers who did not return to work after 48 hours.
In 1981, Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Connor as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court, fulfilling a campaign promise to name the first female justice to the Court.
In 1981, Reagan appointed key officials who shared his agenda of loosening federal regulation of economic activities.
In 1981, Reagan approved a plan for cuts to Social Security in an effort to keep it solvent. He also signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, cutting funding for federal assistance programs.
In 1981, Ronald Reagan began his service as the 40th president of the United States.
Ronald Reagan's approval ratings declined by the end of his first year due to the 1981-1982 recession.
Despite Reagan having opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the bill was extended for 25 years in 1982.
In 1982, Reagan intensified the war on drugs in response to concerns about the increasing crack epidemic.
In 1982, Reagan signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act to address the growing federal debt. The act increased the federal cigarette tax and rescinded parts of the 1981 corporate tax cuts.
In 1982, Reagan tried to cut off the Soviet Union's access to hard currency by impeding its proposed gas line to Western Europe, which hurt the Soviet economy but also caused ill will among American allies.
In a 1982 address to the British Parliament, Reagan said, "the march of freedom and democracy... will leave Marxism–Leninism on the ash heap of history".
Ronald Reagan's approval ratings declined in his second and third years, which has been attributed to the 1981–1982 recession.
The 1982 Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act deregulated savings and loan associations, leading to riskier activities and contributing to the savings and loan crisis.
During a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in March 1983, Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as "the evil empire".
In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to protect the United States from space intercontinental ballistic missiles, which became known as "Star Wars".
By 1983, federal taxes had decreased for most taxpayers, with the largest decreases for higher-income individuals.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada.
In 1983, Reagan signed a bill to create Martin Luther King Jr. Day after it passed both houses of Congress with veto-proof margins, despite his initial opposition.
In 1983, Reagan signed amendments to raise both the program's payroll taxes and the retirement age for benefits in order to keep Social Security financially secure, following the recommendations of the Greenspan Commission.
In 1983, Reagan's campaign managers were revealed to having obtained Carter's debate briefing book before the debates.
On January 29, 1984, Reagan announced his reelection campaign with the slogan "America is back and standing tall".
By mid-1984, Ronald Reagan's approval rating neared 60 percent after his ratings rebounded following the invasion of Grenada.
In 1984, Reagan signed legislation intended to impose fines for fair housing discrimination offenses.
In 1984, Ronald Reagan won a landslide victory in the presidential election, defeating Walter Mondale.
After crack became widespread in 1985, Reagan's administration publicized the campaign to gain support for the war on drugs.
Between 1981 and 1985, defense spending doubled.
In 1985, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev held their first summit conference, marking the beginning of a shift towards diplomacy and arms agreements.
In 1985, the indexing for inflation of exemptions and brackets became a requirement as part of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981.
In his 1985 State of the Union Address, Reagan proclaimed support for freedom fighters as self-defense, solidifying the Reagan Doctrine of supporting anti-communist movements against Soviet-backed groups worldwide.
In late 1985, Reagan announced the imposition of new sanctions on the South African government, including an arms embargo, but these were viewed as weak by anti-apartheid activists.
By 1986, the Reagan administration had eliminated almost half of the federal regulations that had existed in 1981, reflecting Reagan's agenda to loosen federal regulation of economic activities.
In 1986, Congress approved the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which included tougher sanctions, overriding Reagan's veto.
In 1986, Reagan appointed Antonin Scalia as Associate Justice and elevated William Rehnquist from Associate Justice to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
In 1986, during the Reykjavík Summit, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to abolish all nuclear weapons, but the deal fell through due to disagreements over SDI research.
In 1986, the Tax Reform Act reduced the number of tax brackets and the top tax rate while also nearly doubling personal exemptions.
Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which specified penalties for drug offenses.
In June 1987, Ronald Reagan addressed Mikhail Gorbachev during a speech at the Berlin Wall, demanding that he "tear down this wall."
In 1987, Reagan unsuccessfully nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court as a way to achieve his civil rights policy.
In 1987, Reagan vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act.
In mid-1987, Ronald Reagan's approval ratings began to recover after declining during the Iran–Contra scandal.
In March 1988, Reagan vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, arguing that it unreasonably increased the federal government's power and undermined the rights of churches and business owners, but Congress overrode his veto.
In May 1988, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted in favor of ratifying the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, giving Reagan's popularity a major boost.
By 1988, Reagan and Gorbachev had held four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988, indicating a period of increased diplomatic engagement.
In 1988, Reagan appointed Anthony Kennedy as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court.
In 1988, Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 to specify penalties for drug offenses and a study showed 39 percent of high school seniors using illegal drugs compared to 53 percent in 1980.
Since 1988, Republican presidential candidates have invoked Ronald Reagan's policies and beliefs.
On January 20, 1989, Ronald Reagan left the presidency at the age of 77, making him the oldest president to leave office at the end of his tenure at the time.
In November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, which was retroactively recast as a soaring achievement following Reagan's demand to Gorbachev to tear it down in 1987.
In 1989, Ronald Reagan concluded his tenure as the 40th president of the United States.
In 1989, Ronald Reagan supported repealing the Twenty-second Amendment's presidential term limits.
In 1990, a year after he left office, a Gallup survey found that 54 percent of Americans said they approved of the overall job Reagan did as president.
In 1990, the economic expansion that began in 1982 came to an end.
In March 1991, Ronald Reagan wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, titled "Why I'm for the Brady Bill".
In 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. This marked the end of the Cold War.
In 1992 the number of Americans who approved of the Reagan administration declined to 48 percent.
In 1992, Ronald Reagan addressed the Republican National Convention and favored a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.
On February 3, 1994, Ronald Reagan gave his final public speech during a tribute to him in Washington, D.C.
In May 1994, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter sent a letter to House members, urging them to support the controversial Federal Assault Weapons Ban.
In 2006, favorability of Ronald Reagan's presidency reached its highest ever: 71 percent approval.
In 2008, British historian M. J. Heale summarized that scholars had reached a broad consensus on Reagan's legacy.
In 2010, favorability of Ronald Reagan's presidency reached 74 percent approval.
In 2018, favorability of Ronald Reagan's presidency reached 72 percent approval.
In 2023, favorability of Ronald Reagan's presidency reached 69 percent approval.
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