Reagan was born Ronald Wilson Reagan on February 6th, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois. His father worked as a shoe salesman, providing for the whole family (Reagan, his father, his mother, and his older brother.) They lived in an apartment with no indoor plumbing or running water. He would move around Illinois during his childhood as his father switched jobs, eventually settling in Dixon. He graduated from high school there in 1928. During his time there, he was an athlete, student body president, and actor. He went on to Eureka College in Illinois with an athletic scholarship, where he continued to be a star student. During his time studying economics and sociology, he played various sports, served as student council president and acted in school productions. He began work in 1932 after his graduation as a radio sports announcer.
In 1937, while in Hollywood covering a baseball game, Reagan did a screen test for Warner Brothers. It led him to a seven-year contract with the film group. He would debut in “Love is on the Air,” where he played a radio news reporter. By the end of 1939, he had already appeared in 19 films. One of his best-known roles was playing Notre Dame football star George Gipp in "Knute Rockne, All American." Another role many remember him for is his part in Kings Row (1942), where he plays an accident victim who wakes up with no legs. Over the three decades of his film career, he would star in more than 50 films. He never served in World War II, because he was disqualified from service due to poor eyesight.
In 1940, he married Jane Wyman, an actor he worked with. Over the course of their marriage, they would have a daughter and adopt a son. They had a painful divorce in 1948, making Reagan the first and only U.S. president to have a divorce (until Trump.) While Reagan worked as president of the Screen Actors Guild, he met actress Nancy Davis. She asked him for his help after she was listed as a communist sympathizer, which could represent the end of her career. They both were interested in each other, but Reagan was skeptical of marrying again due to the nature of his divorce. Despite this, they got married in 1952. They had two children, Patricia Ann and Ronald.
He then began his political career with his national endorsement for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, and we know the rest.
Source:
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_filmography
https://www.biography.com/people/ronald-reagan-9453198
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Great Post! The history of Ronald Reagan is quite interesting since he got into politics late. I think it is evident that without his past as movie star and actor he would not have become the great communicator that we all know today. One thing I think that you could have expanded on was that Reagan, growing up, was a Democrat. He loved FDR and believed in the powers of the New Deal. To many, this comes as a surprise since he was one of the people known for attempting to tear apart the New Deal. Reagan was often quoted as saying, "I did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.goodreads.com/quotes/837554-i-didn-t-leave-the-democratic-party-the-democratic-party-left
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894529_1894528_1894518,00.html
Aaron, this was a very well written and informative post! I found the part about Nancy Davis being accused of being a communist sympathizer quite interesting and decided to do some more research. I found that there were in fact two Nancy Davises that were working in Hollywood in the fifties and Nancy Davis Reagan and Ronald Reagan, who was then the president of the Screen Actors Guild helped clear Nancy Davis Reagan's name. This resulted in the end of the career of the other Nancy Davis, and she was found to be working at a fast food joint later on in life as a result of the Reagan's actions. I found this fascinating and I hope you do too! Thanks for such a great post!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thenation.com/article/nancy-reagan-and-the-problem-of-the-two-nancys/
I compare him to Arnold as they both were actors getting into politics but it always scares me that actors are able to have lots of power. They have the ability to lie and manipulate because of their sincerity and awareness of their speeches and looks that you never really know what you're getting from actors. He ended up doing great in office and connected with other countries and the American people.
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