Leadership can mean different things to different people. However, we all can agree that, to some extent, each president of the United States of America acts in a leadership role. With that being said, one of the more recent presidents who had quite an impact on the nation and the world is Ronald Wilson Reagan.
Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in the town of Tampico, Illinois. His childhood was a happy one, despite his family's persistent financial hardships. Reagan's father, Jack, was a storekeeper who had dreams of owning a fancy shoe store; unfortunately, his ambitions were undermined by his alcoholism. Jack’s alcoholism had affected the young Ronald so much that at one point, Reagan told his father he had “that problem” just to encourage his father to quit drinking. Reagan's mother, Nelle, was a soft-spoken, religious woman. She donated much of her time and whatever money she could to charity. The Great Depression hit the Reagans hard and they moved constantly from town to town to pursue Jack's dreams of striking it rich. Nevertheless, Reagan always believed that things would get better and never thought his predicament was that bad in the first place. He once said "We were poor, but we didn't know we were poor."
At high school and college, Reagan was never studied a great deal, but he had a photographic memory that allowed him to pass tests easily with barely an hour's worth of studying. He was popular and content, although he was somewhat shy. He was a football player and swimmer with a steady girlfriend. At Eureka College, Reagan joined the drama club and he got his first taste of leadership and public speaking when he helped defeat a plan to lay off teachers and cancel classes. He gave an emotional speech accusing the college's president and trustees of bad faith. He said in his autobiography that during the speech he learned that "an audience has a feel to it and, in the parlance of the theater, the audience and I were together."
After graduating college in 1932, Reagan knew that he wanted to pursue a career in communications. He spent months of working odd jobs, until a radio station in Illinois offered him five dollars and bus fare to announce a University of Iowa football game. A few months later he was hired as a full-time announcer at the radio station, where he struggled to keep his job. He then moved to a station in Des Moines, Iowa, where he announced sports events. He also announced Chicago Cubs baseball games in the Des Moines studio. He would read a pitch-by-pitch account as it came off the wire as if the game were happening live. In fact, many listeners could not believe that he was not there.
While covering a sports story on Catalina Island, near Los Angeles, Reagan caught the attention of an agent from the Warner Brothers movie studio. After doing a screen test for Warner Brothers, Reagan was signed to a seven-year movie contract with the studio. In the years following, he was seen in a number of forgettable films; however, there were a few that did quite well, such as Brother Rat (1938), Dark Victory (1939), and Kings Row (1941). His most notable film was made in 1940, Knute Rockne--All American, in which he portrayed football legend George Gipp. With the onset of World War II, Reagan found himself making air force training films.
In 1940 Reagan married actress Jane Wyman, with whom he had co-starred in Brother Rat. The public had painted a picture of the Reagans as a happy, conventional couple. Reagan and Wyman had a daughter, Maureen, and adopted a son, Michael. Even though they shared an interest for acting, they did not share any “extracurricular” activities. Wyman was completely apathetic to her husband's passion for politics and his work as president of the Screen Actors' Guild. Despite Reagan’s reluctance, the couple divorced in 1948. Wyman cited "extreme mental cruelty," winning custody of both children.
Despite Reagan’s failed marriage, he continued to prosper in politics. In the late 1940’s through the mid-1960’s, Reagan’s acting career dwindled as he became more of a political figure. Through his captivating presence on and off the screen, Reagan rallied against Communism. He narrated several anti-Communism films and spent most of his time as a full-time political activist. Although his film career was virtually over, Reagan achieved personal happiness when he married Nancy Davis in 1952. Nancy was the daughter of a strongly conservative Chicago physician. Many believe that Nancy greatly influenced the life of her beloved husband, whom she affectionately referred to as “Ronnie”. Nancy gave up her career ambitions to be a full-time wife and mother. Nancy gave birth to their two children, Patricia Ann in 1952 and Ronald Prescott in 1958.
Reagan was no stranger to leadership when he began to work in politics. Prior to formally becoming involved in government politics, Reagan had co-chaired the Citizens for Goldwater-Miller Committee in 1964, served on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild, serving as president from 1949 to 1952, and in 1959. He had also served as chairman of the Motion Picture Industry Council in 1949. By early 1965, a group of prominent California conservatives decided Reagan should run for governor. He benefited from massive financial support and a strong conservative trend in Californians. Reagan easily won the Republican primary.
During Reagan's first term as California's governor, he enacted a freeze in state hiring, which restrained the growth rate of the state's bureaucracy. He also increased taxes to eliminate the state deficit and reduced social services. Welfare reform was on the agenda for his second term. Reagan only had moderate success in promoting his programs.
In 1976 he made his first serious run for the U.S. presidency. He lost the long-fought campaign against Gerald Ford and the Republican nomination went to Ford. Reagan was not deterred though, and in 1980 he won his party's nomination and defeated the Democratic Incumbent President, Jimmy Carter.
Reagan's presidency was filled with substantial tax cuts. He reduced spending on domestic programs, increased military expenditures, and doubled the national debt. His moves are credited with decreasing the inflation rate, which had grown sharply in the 1970s. On March 30, 1981, a 25-year old drifter named John Hinckley shot Reagan. His wounds were serious, but he recovered. The stories of his good humor while in the hospital added to his popularity.
In 1986, it was learned that the Reagan administration had participated in the shipping of arms to the radical Islamic fundamentalist government of Iran. This was apparently an effort to gain the release of American hostages who were being held by Iranian terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon. During investigations it became clear that high-ranking officials in the National Security Council, an agency that advises the president, had secretly moved money from the Iranian arms deals to aid the Nicaraguan insurgents in overthrowing their government. Although others in his administration resigned or were prosecuted for their involvement, the scandal had little impact on Reagan personally.
Reagan's foreign affairs policies may be the legacy which will stand the test of time. During Reagan's presidency, he pushed for the largest peacetime military buildup in American history. In 1983, he unveiled a proposal for the Strategic Defense Initiative. His strong military buildup lead to the 1988 summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, where they signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) limiting the use of intermediate-range nuclear weapons. Arguably, this marked the beginning of the end of communist Russia. Many credit Reagan's policies with the end of communism in Europe and its reduction as a political alternative in much of the world.
After serving two terms as President of the United States, Reagan’s Vice President, George H.W. Bush, was elected to the presidency. Even after he left office, Reagan continued to attract minor controversies. In 1990, he published his autobiography, An American Life. On November 5, 1994, he announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Sadly, on June 5, 2004, Reagan passed away at his home in Los Angeles, California, of pneumonia. It was evident during his services that he was loved and admired by many and will be missed, both for his leadership and his humor.
Works Cited
Brookhiser, Richard. National Review, 6/28/2004, Vol. 56 Issue 12, p40, 2p
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, 1981--1989." The Cold War, 1945-1991.
3 vols. Edited by Benjamin Frankel. Gale Research, 1992.
“Ronald Reagan." American Decades CD-ROM. Gale Research, 1998.
“Ronald W. Reagan." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale
Research, 1998.
“Ronald Wilson Reagan." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Gale Group,
1999.
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