Ronald Reagan

**Ronald Wilson Reagan** ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, spokesperson and actor. He was the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Before becoming president, he was the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975. He was also the 9th and 13th president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and again from 1959 until 1960.

In 1964, his "A Time for Choosing" speech made Reagan popular with conservatives. He was elected governor of California in 1966. During his time as governor, he raised taxes, fixed the state's budget, and ended student protests in Berkeley. After running against and losing to president Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican presidential primaries, Reagan won the Republican nomination and then a landslide victory over Democratic president Jimmy Carter in the 1980 United States presidential election.

In his first term, Reagan created "Reaganomics", which promoted economic deregulation and cuts in both taxes and government spending during a time of stagflation. He focused on spending more on the military and had a more intense response with the Soviet Union. He also survived an assassination attempt, had a problems with labor unions, made the war on drugs bigger, and ordered the invasion of Grenada in 1983. In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan was re-elected over former vice president Walter Mondale in another landslide victory. Foreign policy took over Reagan's second term, including the 1986 bombing of Libya, the Iran–Iraq War, the secret sale of arms to Iran to fund the Contras, and a more calm response in talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that led to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Reagan left the presidency in 1989 with a lower unemployment rate than when he took office and lowered the country's inflation, however the national deficit grew. Historians and scholars have highly ranked Reagan's presidency for his foreign policies, however some critics did not like his domestic and tax policies.

## Early life 
Reagan was born to Jack and Nelle Reagan on February 6, 1911, in a small apartment building in Tampico, Illinois. He had an older brother named Neil. His father was a Roman Catholic of Irish descent. His mother was a Protestant of English and Scottish descent.

The family moved to different places in Illinois when Reagan was a child. They moved to Monmouth and Galesburg. His family finally moved to Dixon, Illinois. His family was very poor and Reagan did not have much as a child. He became a lifeguard and saved 77 lives.

Reagan studied at Eureka College in Illinois. He graduated in 1932.

After college, Reagan became a sports announcer at news radio station WHO. Reagan was also a broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs. He was good at retelling baseball games. While he was in California, Reagan got a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers. He left his job as a radio announcer to start acting.

## Acting career
'' trailer, 1938]]Reagan was in fifty-three movies. In 1941, he was voted the fifth most popular star from the younger generation in Hollywood.

Reagan's favorite acting role was as a double amputee in 1942's *Kings Row*. In the movie, he says the line, "Where's the rest of me?" It was later used as the title of his 1965 autobiography. Many movie critics thought *Kings Row* to be his best movie. Even though the movie was popular, it received bad reviews by *New York Times* critic Bosley Crowther.

Although Reagan called *Kings Row* the movie that "made me a star", he was unable to keep up with his success. This was because he was ordered to active duty with the U.S. Army in San Francisco two months after the movie's release.

During World War II, Reagan was separated for four years from his movie career. After the war, Reagan co-starred in movies such as *The Voice of the Turtle*, *John Loves Mary*, *The Hasty Heart*, *Bedtime for Bonzo*, *Cattle Queen of Montana*, *Juke Girl*, *This Is the Army*, *The Winning Team*, ''Tennessee's Partner*, and *Hellcats of the Navy'', in which he worked with his wife, Nancy. Reagan's last movie was a 1964 movie *The Killers*. Throughout his movie career, his mother, Nelle, wrote most of the responses to Reagan's fan mail.
*]]
Reagan was also a spokesperson. He hosted the *General Electric Theater'' since it was first shown in 1953. He was fired in 1962.

### President of the Screen Actors Guild
Reagan was first elected to the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild in 1941. Reagan was re-elected president in 1959. He served only a year before resigning in 1960. Reagan even spoke at a special meeting at Congress on communism in Hollywood as well.

Although Reagan gave out names of actors who were suspected communists, he did not agree with the way people were using these names. Reagan said "Do they expect us to constitute ourselves as a little FBI of our own and determine just who is a Commie and who isn't?" He asked Wyman to marry him at the Chicago Theatre. They were married in January 1940. Reagan was the first United States President to be divorced.

In 1949, months after divorcing Wyman, Reagan met Nancy Davis. After Reagan helped Davis, the two began dating. They were married on March 4, 1952, in Hollywood, California. Nancy and Reagan were married for 54 years until Reagan died in 2004. He strongly supported the New Deal. He admired Franklin D. Roosevelt. Over time, Reagan became a conservative Republican. This was because he thought the federal government had too much power and authority. He made a famous speech against socialized medicine (government-run health care).

Reagan supported Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon for the United States presidency. The last time Reagan supported a Democrat was when Helen Gahagan Douglas ran for the United States Senate.

### Speech for Barry Goldwater 
During the 1964 presidential election, Reagan supported Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. In the speech he spoke against government programs and high taxes. Even though Goldwater did not win the election, Reagan gained popularity from it.

After Reagan gave this speech, many business people thought that Reagan could run for Governor of California. Reagan won the election with 3,742,913 (57.55%) of the vote while Brown won 2,749,174 (42.27%) of the vote. Reagan was inaugurated on January 2, 1967. Reagan worked with the Democratic Party majority in the state legislature to help create a major reform of the welfare system in 1971. The reform helped give money to the poor and increase the pay of the rich. In 1967, Reagan signed an act that did not allow the public carrying loaded guns. In 1968, a petition to force Reagan into a recall election failed.

Reagan ran briefly for president in 1968. He was not nominated by the Republican Party at the 1968 Republican National Convention as Richard Nixon was nominated.

On May 15, 1969, during the People's Park protests at the University of California, Berkeley, Reagan sent the California Highway Patrol and other officers to fight off the protests, in an event that became known as "Bloody Thursday". Reagan then called out 2,200 state National Guard troops to occupy the city of Berkeley for two weeks to crack down on the protesters.

Reagan ran for re-election in the 1970 gubernatorial election against assemblyman Jesse M. Unruh. Reagan won 3,439,174 (52.83%) of the vote while Unruh won 2,938,607 (45.14%) of the vote.

During his final term as governor, he played a major role in California's educational system. Reagan soon became the conservative candidate with the support of groups such as the American Conservative Union, which became important supporters of his political run, while Ford was seen as a more moderate Republican.

During his 1976 campaign, Reagan controversially used the pejorative phrase "welfare queen" to talk about Linda Taylor who illegally misused her welfare benefits in 1974. He used Taylor and her criminal activities to defend why he was against social programs in the United States.

Reagan picked United States Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate.

Reagan won a few primaries early such as North Carolina, Texas and California, but soon failed to win key primaries such as New Hampshire, Florida, and his native Illinois.

During the 1976 GOP convention, Ford won the nomination with 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070.

## 1980 presidential campaign
]]
In November 1979, Reagan announced his plans to run for president again in the 1980 presidential election against President Jimmy Carter. His campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again", was heavily used in the 1980 election and in Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign. The slogan would be used by Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump in their presidential campaigns. Reagan also used the slogan "Morning in America" in this campaign. Reagan had many people running for the nomination such as former Director George H. W. Bush, United States representatives John B. Anderson and Phil Crane, United States senators Bob Dole, Howard Baker, Larry Pressler and Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., Governor Harold Stassen, former Treasury Secretary John Connally and Republican businessman Ben Fernandez. In May 1980, Reagan won enough delegates to win the Republican Party nomination. At the 1980 Republican National Convention, Reagan named Bush as his running mate.

Reagan's presidential campaign focused on lowering taxes to grow the economy, less government in people's lives, states' rights, and a strong national defense.

His relaxed and confident appearance during the Reagan-Carter debate on TV on October 28, made him more popular. He increased his lead over Carter in opinion polls.

On November 4, Reagan won the election. He won 44 states with 489 electoral votes. Carter won 6 states and the District of Columbia with 49 electoral votes.

## Presidency, 1981–89
### First term, 1981–85
Reagan was first sworn in as president on January 20, 1981. On the same day, hostages from the Iran hostage crisis were released.

During the first two years of his presidency Reagan worked with a conservative majority in Congress. It was estimated that there were 230 votes in the 97th Congress. However, this changed following the midterm elections in 1982, with liberals regaining control of the House of Representatives. In the 98th Congress, there were now only 190 conservatives in the House. 

#### Assassination attempt
]]
Reagan was nearly killed in an assassination attempt that happened on Monday, March 30, 1981. 69 days after becoming president, he was leaving after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Another bullet hit officer Thomas Delahanty in the back of the neck, but he survived. The third bullet hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the chest. McCarthy got shot so another bullet did not hit Reagan. Reagan, Brady, Delahanty and McCarthy were the only ones injured during the event and they all survived.

Reagan was taken to the George Washington University Hospital, which was the nearest hospital to the hotel and White House. In 1985, Reagan expressed his disappointment that the Supreme Court ruling still bans a moment of silence for public schools, and said he had "an uphill battle." In 1987, Reagan once again wanted Congress to support prayer in schools and end "the expulsion of God from America's classrooms." People who did not support this, with some thinking it was going against the first amendment. Reagan's Attorney General, William French Smith, thought it was unconstitutional. Reagan said that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48&nbsp;hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated". They did not return and on August 5, Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order, and used supervisors and military controllers to handle the nation's commercial air traffic until new controllers could be hired and trained.

The Reagan administration did not pay attention to the AIDS crisis in the United States in 1981. By the time President Reagan gave his first speech on the epidemic in 1987, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS and 20,849 had died of it. By the end of 1989, the year Reagan left office, 115,786 people had been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States, and more than 70,000 of them had died of it. In 1988, before speaking to the United Nations, Reagan decided to give out the WHO funds. But on November 2, 1983, Reagan signed a bill to create a federal holiday honoring King. The bill had passed the Senate by a count of 78 to 22 and the House of Representatives by 338 to 90. The holiday was observed for the first time on January 20, 1986.

#### Economic policies
 about his economic plan, Reaganomics, July 1981]]
Reagan believed that the government should be small, not big. This means that the government should not interfere in people's lives very much or interfere with what businesses do. He lowered everybody's income taxes by 25% and cut government spending.

While he was president, inflation went from 13.5% to 4.1%. Reagan's economic plan caused a bad economy during 1982, but the economy recovered in 1983. However, people who did not like his economic plan pointed out an increase in the national debt from 31% to 50.8% of the country's GDP. During his time in office, unemployment fell from 7.6% to 5.5% and the economy grew by 40%. His economic policies also made it harder for Black Americans to earn as much money as White Americans. A Federal Reserve Board study in 1992 said that Reagan's economic policies mainly helped rich Americans as they became richer while those in poverty had little help.

#### Foreign policy
Reagan gave his "Evil empire" speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida on March 8, 1983. He spoke about the nuclear arms race and said how communism would eventually fail.
, 1983]]
In the "Evil Empire" speech, Reagan also said how he wanted NATO to use nuclear-armed intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Western Europe as a response to the Soviets adding new nuclear-armed missiles in Eastern Europe.

In 1983, Reagan sent forces to Lebanon to stop the threat of the Lebanese Civil War. On October 23, 1983, American forces in Beirut were attacked. The Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 Americans and hurt more than 60 others by a suicide truck bomber.

Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who had told the administration against having U.S. Marines in Lebanon, said there would be no change in the U.S.'s Lebanon policy. Reagan met with his national security team and planned to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon. A joint American–French air assault on the camp where the bombing was planned was also approved by Reagan and French President François Mitterrand, however U.S. Defense Secretary Weinberger successfully told Reagan to go against the mission.
 meets with Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica in the Oval Office about the events in Grenada, November 1983]]
In September 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by the Soviet Union. Reagan addressed the nation. In his address, Reagan said "I'm coming before you tonight about the Korean airline massacre, the attack by the Soviet Union against 269 innocent men, women, and children aboard an unarmed Korean passenger plane. This crime against humanity must never be forgotten, here or throughout the world."

On October 25, 1983, Reagan ordered U.S. forces to invade Grenada, code named Operation Urgent Fury. Reagan said that there was a "regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean" in Grenada. In mid-December, U.S. forces withdrew from Grenada after a new form of government was created there. His Democratic opponent was former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Many thought Reagan was showing the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. In the second debate, Reagan improved his performance and when asked about questions of his age, he said "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." Reagan also repeated his 1980 debate phrase: "There you go again". He carried more electoral votes than any other president in American history.

#### Foreign policy
Reagan became friends with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.
, October 1986]]
In foreign policy, Reagan ended détente (the policy of being friendly to the Soviet Union) by ordering the largest peacetime military buildup in American history. The U.S. government had to borrow a lot of money to pay for it. He had many new weapons built. Soon, the U.S. began to research a missile defense system that would destroy missiles. It was to prevent a nuclear war from happening. The program was called Strategic Defense Initiative. It was nicknamed "Star Wars".

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the new leader of the Soviet Union (which was in bad shape and soon to collapse). Reagan had many talks with him. Their first meeting together was at the Reykjavík Summit in Iceland. They became good friends.

In May 1985, Reagan and Chancellor Helmut Kohl were scheduled to visit a military cemetery in Bitburg, Germany to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II. The visit caused controversy as the cemetery had members of the Waffen-SS buried there and Reagan did not schedule a visit to a concentration camp.

 about plans to attack Libya after the bombings, April 1986]]
During the Reagan presidency, relations between Libya and the United States were not good. In early April 1986, relations became worse when a bomb exploded in a Berlin discothèque. On April 15, 1986, the United States launched many attacks in Libya. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher allowed the U.S. Air Force to use Britain's air bases to launch the attack. The United Nations said that Reagan broke "the Charter of the United Nations and of international law". The Democrats in the Senate tried to pass the Anti-Apartheid Act in September 1985, but could not pass because of a Republican filibuster. Reagan created his own sanctions for South Africa, but Democrats thought they were weak.
, October 1985]]
The bill was re-introduced in 1986 and brought up for a vote even though Republican wanted to block it to give Reagan's sanctions time to work. It passed the House with Reagan publicly against it. Later the Senate approved the bill with a 84-14 vote. On September 26, 1986, Reagan vetoed the bill saying that it would cause an "economic war". Republican Senator Richard Lugar led the Senate to override Reagan's veto. The veto was reversed by Congress (by the Senate 78 to 21, the House by 313 to 83) on October 2. The veto override was the first one on a presidential foreign policy veto in the 20th century. Reagan also criticized those who were against apartheid such as the African National Congress (ANC).

Reagan's popularity was badly hurt by the political scandal Iran-Contra Affair. The government illegally sold weapons to Iran.

His United States National Security Advisor John Poindexter was charged with multiple felonies and later resigned. Reagan later nominated former Ambassador Frank Carlucci to replace Poindexter. Reagan later nominated Carlucci to be his Defense Secretary. Oliver North, a member of the United States National Security Council, resigned and was questioned for his role in the affair. In February 1987, White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan also resigned because of personal problems he had with Reagan and First Lady Reagan about his handling of the affair.

Soon, he told the American people that it was his fault. In his apology, Reagan said "Let's start with the part that is the most controversial. A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not." In the end, fourteen administration officials were indicted and eleven convictions resulted.

In 1987, Reagan traveled to Berlin to give a speech at the Berlin Wall. That is where he gave one of his well known speeches of his presidency. Talking about the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall he said that Gorbachev should support liberalization and that by tearing down the Berlin Wall it would bring freedom and peace to Germany.
, June 1987]]
During his term as president, Reagan saw the change in the mood of the Soviet leadership with Mikhail Gorbachev. Months after his Berlin Wall speech, Gorbachev said his plans to work with Reagan for a big arms agreement. Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which banned nuclear weapons being launched between the United States and the Soviet Union.

When Reagan visited Moscow for the fourth summit in 1988, he was seen as a celebrity by the Soviets. In November 1989, ten months after Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Cold War was officially declared over at the Malta Summit on December 3, 1989, and two years later, the Soviet Union collapsed.

#### Domestic policies
Reagan announced a War on Drugs in 1982, because he was worried about the growing number of people using crack. Even though Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs during the 1970s, Reagan used more militant policies. First Lady Nancy Reagan created her "Just Say No" campaign against drug use to children. Reagan's War on Drugs was criticized for making racial inequality even worse as more people of color were arrested for drug use. The War on Drugs was also said to have made police arrests more aggressive towards Black Americans.

In 1986, Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill that made sure there would be $1.7&nbsp;billion to fund the War on Drugs. It created a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses. The bill was criticized for creating racial inequalities and mass imprisonment of African-Americans.

In 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, killing everyone on board. The entire country was shocked. Reagan moved that date to his 1986 State of the Union Address because the tragedy. It was the first time that a President of the United States postponed a State of the Union Address. where he said "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' to 'touch the face of God'."

Reagan ordered for a commission to be created to investigate the explosion. When the commission created a list of recommendations to avoid another explosion, Reagan ordered NASA to start using the new safety measures within thirty days.

In November 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. In that same year, the Statue of Liberty was just re-opened after being renovated. Reagan was at the opening ceremony when he said "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."

In January 1987, U.S. Representative Tom Foley introduced the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 to Congress as a way to give reparation to Japanese-Americans who were interned by the United States during World War II. It passed the House in September 1987 and was sent to the Senate where it was passed in April 1988. Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act into law on August 10, 1988, granting USD $20,000 in payments beginning in 1990.

#### Supreme Court nominations
 to the Supreme Court, October 1987]]
During his 1980 campaign, Reagan promised that, if elected, he would nominate the first female Supreme Court Associate Justice. On July 7, 1981, he nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to replace the retiring Justice Potter Stewart. Reagan said that O'Connor "[was] truly a person for all qualities". O'Connor was confirmed by the United States Senate with a vote of 99–0. He named Antonin Scalia to fill the empty seat left by Rehnquist. Kennedy said Bork was not strong on states', civil or women's rights.
 after leaving office, January 1989]]
Bork's nomination was not approved by the United States Senate with a vote of 58–42. Reagan then nominated Douglas H. Ginsburg, but Ginsburg ended up not wanting the role as it was revealed he used cannabis. Reagan later nominated Anthony Kennedy to replace Powell, Jr. and he was approved with a vote of 97–0.

#### End of the Reagan presidency
Reagan left office with high rankings on January 20, 1989, when his Vice President George H. W. Bush became president.

Reagan and his wife, Nancy, soon returned home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California. Even after when he left office, Reagan had a close friendship with both Thatcher and Gorbachev.

In June 1989, Reagan was honored with Honorary Knighthood and received the Order of the Bath presented by Queen Elizabeth II. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993 by President George H. W. Bush. He was the first former living president to receive the honor. Soon afterwards the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation created the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award for people who made a big change for freedom.

In 1990, Reagan wrote an autobiography titled, *An American Life*.

### Assault
On April 13, 1992, Reagan was assaulted by an anti-nuclear protester during a speech while accepting an award from the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas. The protester was Richard Paul Springer. He smashed a 2-foot-high (60&nbsp;cm) 30-pound (13.5&nbsp;kg) crystal statue of an eagle that the broadcasters had given to Reagan. Pieces of glass hit Reagan, but he was not injured.

Springer was the founder of an anti-nuclear group called the *100th Monkey*. Following his arrest on assault charges, a Secret Service spokesman did not say how Springer got past the agents. Later, Springer pled guilty to the federal charge of interfering with the Secret Service, but other felony charges of assault and fighting against officers were dropped.

### Health issues
Early in his presidency, Reagan started wearing a hearing aid, first in his right ear and later in his left as well. In 1985, he had colon cancer and skin cancer removed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1987, Reagan had surgery to remove a polyp of the nose.
, 1992]]
In her memoirs, former CBS White House correspondent Lesley Stahl remembers her final meeting with the president in 1986.

On January 7, 1989, Reagan had surgery at the Reed Army Medical Center to fix a Dupuytren's contracture of the ring finger of his left hand. Eight months later in September, Reagan had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to remove fluid from his brain because of an injury from falling off a horse.

In 1994, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Reagan wrote a public letter about having Alzheimer's disease. After announcing his disease, many people sent supporting letters to his California home. 

's state funeral, 1994]]

In 1995, the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute was dedicated in Chicago, Illinois. It is an institution that can help people with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The fracture was repaired the next day. Reagan, 89 years old, returned home later that week, but he then had to do difficult physical therapy at home.

On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, becoming the third former president to do so (the other two being John Adams and Herbert Hoover, with Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter later reaching 90).

Reagan appeared in public not as much as the disease got worse. His family said that he would live alone with his wife Nancy. Nancy Reagan told CNN's Larry King in 2001 that very few visitors were allowed to see her husband because she felt that "Ronnie would want people to remember him as he was." In that same year, Reagan's daughter, Maureen Reagan, died from melanoma at the age of 60.

The USS *Ronald Reagan* (CVN-76) was finished in 2001. A ceremony was held in March 2001. Mrs. Reagan believed that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's. Nancy died on March 6, 2016, at the age of 94.

## Death and funeral
On June 5, 2004, Reagan died at the age of 93 of pneumonia, caused by Alzheimer's disease, in his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.
 in the United States Capitol Rotunda on June 9, 2004]]
Reagan was given a state funeral. His state funeral was the first in the United States since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973. President George W. Bush and former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton went to the funeral. First Lady Laura Bush and former first ladies Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, and Barbara Bush also went. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor also went to the funeral and delivered a passage from the Bible.

Foreign leaders also went to Reagan's funeral, Mikhail Gorbachev, Prime Minister of United Kingdom Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and interim presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq. His tomb reads, "I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And that there is purpose and worth to each and every life".

## Legacy 
 from speeches during his presidency]]
Reagan, by public opinion, is one of the most popular American presidents. His legacy is strongly admired among many conservatives and Republicans.

, Minnesota, 1982]]
According to USA Today, "Reagan transformed the American presidency in ways that only a few have been able to." His role in the Cold War made his image more popular as a different kind of leader as both Reagan and Gorbachev wanted to end nuclear tensions and the war.

Reagan ranked third of post–World War II presidents in a 2007 Rasmussen Reports poll, fifth in an ABC 2000 poll, ninth in another 2007 Rasmussen poll, and eighth in a late 2008 poll by British newspaper *The Times*. In 2011, British historians released a survey to rate American presidents. This poll of British experts in American history and politics said that Reagan is the eighth greatest American president.

Some people of the opposite party, the Democratic Party, had some good thoughts about Reagan as well. His presidency is sometimes called the Reagan Era because of the changes it brought during Reagan's time as president. During his presidency, Reagan was known for his witty charm and his warm optimism. Reagan was also supported by young voters, who began to support the Republican party as a result.

The legacy of his economic policies is still divided between people who believe that the government should be smaller and those who believe the government should take a more active role in regulating the economy.

In 2019, an audio recording from 1971 of a conversation between Reagan and President Richard Nixon was released in which Reagan called African diplomats at the United Nations "monkeys". His quote has been called *racist*.

Reagan was known as the "Teflon president" because any criticism or scandals against him never stuck or affected his popularity.

### Honors
In 2000, Ronald and Nancy Reagan were given the Congressional Gold Medal for their "service to their nation". In August 2004, a tribute to Reagan was shown at the 2004 Republican National Convention presented by his son, Michael Reagan.

In June 2007, Reagan received the Order of the White Eagle from Poland's president, Lech Kaczyński, for Reagan's work to end communism in Poland. Nancy Reagan traveled to Warsaw to accept the award for her husband. After Reagan's death, both major American political parties agreed to put a statue of Reagan instead of that of Thomas Starr King. Also in June 2009, President Obama signed the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act into law. It was done to plan activities to honor Reagan's 100th birthday.

A statue of Reagan was presented in November 2011 in Warsaw, Poland. President of Poland Lech Wałęsa was there. February 6 has been known as Ronald Reagan Day in 21 states across the United States in honor of his birthday.

In 2011, Reagan was added to the National Radio Hall of Fame. In 2016, Ronald and Nancy Reagan were honored in the Presidential $1 Coin Program in August 2016.

## Related pages
* Make America Great Again
* Reagan Era
* Reaganomics

* *Killing Reagan*
* *Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine*

## References 
### Books
* 
* 
* 

## More reading
* 

### Books by Reagan
* 
* 

## Official websites
* Ronald Reagan Foundation and Presidential Library
* Ronald Reagan  on whitehouse.gov
* Ronald Reagan in the Governors' Gallery of the California State Library
* The Ronald W. Reagan Society of Eureka College 
* 
* Ronald Reagan from *The Washington Post*
* Ronald Reagan at CNN

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