Reagan, Ronald Wilson 1911-
40th President of the USA, and former film actor

Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, the son of an Irish immigrant shoe salesman who was bankrupted during the Great Depression, and graduated in economics from Eureka College, Illinois. He worked as a sportscaster in Des Moines, Iowa, before being signed as a film actor by Warner Brothers in 1937. He moved to Hollywood and, after making his debut in Love is in the Air (1937), starred in 50 films, including Bedtime for Bonzo (1951) and The Killers (1964). He married the actress Jane Wyman in 1940, but they divorced in 1948. During this period Reagan was a liberal Democrat and admirer of Franklin D Roosevelt. He became interested in politics when serving as president of the Screen Actors' Guild between 1947 and 1952, and moved increasingly towards Republicanism, particularly following his marriage in 1952 to the affluent actress Nancy Davis (see Nancy Reagan), a devout Presbyterian.

During the later 1950s he began promotional work for the General Electric Corporation and became a committed free-enterprise conservative, before officially joining the Republicans in 1962 and delivering a rousing television appeal for the party's 1964 presidential election candidate, Barry M Goldwater. In 1966 Reagan was elected Governor of California, having been persuaded to stand by businessmen friends, and remained in the post for eight years. He unsuccessfully contested the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976, being defeated by Richard Nixon and Gerald R Ford respectively. In 1980, however, after eventually capturing the party's nomination, he proceeded convincingly to defeat the incumbent Jimmy Carter. His campaign stressed the need to reduce taxes, deregulate the economy and build up and modernize the USA's defences to enable the country to negotiate abroad 'from a position of strength'.

He survived an attempted assassination in 1981 and, despite initial serious economic problems between 1981 and 1983, secured re-election by a record margin in 1984. The successful anti-Marxist invasion of Grenada (October 1983), which served to generate a revival in national self-confidence, and his domestic programme of tax cuts and deficit financing, which brought about a rapid economic upturn between 1983 and 1986, were crucial factors behind this victory. During his second term, Reagan, the one-time arch 'hawk', despite advocating a new Strategic Defence ('Star Wars') Initiative of space-based military defence, became a convert to detente, holding four summit meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev between 1985 and 1988, and signing a treaty for the scrapping of intermediate nuclear forces.

During 1986-87, however, the President's position was temporarily imperilled by the 'Iran-Contra Affair' concerning illegal arms-for-hostages deals with Iran by senior members of his administration and the laundering of profits intended, equally illegally, to supply the anti-Marxist Contra guerrillas fighting in Nicaragua. As a result of the scandal, White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan and his National Security Adviser Rear-Admiral John Poindexter were forced to resign, but Reagan escaped unscathed. Described as the 'great communicator' for his accomplished use of modern media, Reagan had a unique, populist rapport with 'mainstream America' and left office an immensely popular figure. However, his policies in Central America and with respect to domestic social programmes were less widely supported, and he left for his successor, George Bush, the serious problem of record budget and trade deficits.

Bibliography: H Johnson, Sleeping Through History: America in The Reagan Years (1991); J Mayer and D McManus, Landslide: The Unmaking of The President 1984-88 (1988); G Will, Reagan's America: Innocents at Home (1987); P Erickson, Reagan Speaks: The Making of an American Myth (1985).