Reagan was raised in a low-income family in small towns of northern Illinois. He graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a sports commentator on several regional radio stations. After moving to California in 1937, he found work as an actor and starred in a few major productions. Reagan was twice elected president of the Screen Actors Guild—the labor union for actors—where he worked to root out communist influence. Reagan encouraged Congress to think of it as billions of new dollars spent in individual districts. If SDI worked, thousands of Soviet nuclear-armed missiles would be worthless — if launched, they could all be shot down. Gorbachev made it his highest priority to get Reagan to abandon SDI. Gorbachev made it his highest priority to get Reagan to abandon SDI. Communication Studies (1988) 39#3–4 pp. 159–175.