History of Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in an apartment on the second floor of a commercial building in Tampico, Illinois.

He majored in economics and sociology and graduated with a C grade from Eureka College.

He earned his first screen credit with a starring role in the 1937 movie Love Is on the Air.

After completing 14 home-study Army Extension Courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937.

Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman married on January 26, 1940 at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather church in Glendale, California.

On April 18, 1942, Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time. Due to his poor eyesight, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.

On January 14, 1943, he was promoted to first lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is the Army at Burbank, California.

He was recommended for promotion to major on February 2, 1945, but this recommendation was disapproved on July 17 of that year.

He was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945.

After the couple had arguments about Reagan's political ambitions, Wyman filed for divorce in 1948, citing a distraction due to her husband's Screen Actors Guild union duties; the divorce was finalized in 1949. Wyman, who was a registered Republican, also stated that their break-up was due to a difference in politics (Reagan was still a Democrat at the time).

Reagan and Nancy Davis were engaged at Chasen's restaurant in Los Angeles and were married on March 4, 1952, at the Little Brown Church in the Valley (North Hollywood, now Studio City) San Fernando Valley.

California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "A Time for Choosing" speech, and nominated him as the Republican party candidate for Governor in 1966, He was elected to his first term on November 8, 1966, with more than 57% of the vote, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown by nearly a million votes.

An unsuccessful attempt to recall Reagan in 1968, Reagan was re-elected in 1970, defeating "Big Daddy" Jesse M. Unruh on November 3 with 52.85% of the vote. He chose not to seek a third term in the following election cycle.

Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for President of the United States in New York City on November 13, 1979. On July 17, 1980, he became the nominee of the Republican Party for the 1980 presidential election.

The presidency of Ronald Reagan began on January 20, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States.

On March 30, 1981, Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy were struck by gunfire from would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton hotel.

With the approval of Congress, Reagan sent forces to Lebanon in 1983 to reduce the threat of the Lebanese Civil War. The American peacekeeping forces in Beirut, a part of a multinational force during the Lebanese Civil War, were attacked on October 23, 1983.

On October 25, 1983, Reagan ordered U.S. forces to invade Grenada (codenamed "Operation Urgent Fury") where a 1979 coup d'état had established an independent non-aligned Marxist–Leninist government.

Reagan was sworn in as president for the second time on January 20, 1985, in a private ceremony at the White House.

On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital to remove cancerous polyps from his colon.

On January 7, 1989, Reagan underwent surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to repair a Dupuytren's contracture of the ring finger of his left hand.

Regean Finished his Second Term as U.S. President Succeeded by George H. W. Bush.

Reagan died of pneumonia, complicated by Alzheimer's disease, at his home in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles, California, on the afternoon of June 5, 2004.