Ronald Reagan

Reagan, Ronald W(ilson) (1911- ), 40th president of the United States (1981-1989), who was elected on a conservative Republican platform.

Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, above the store where his Irish-American father sold shoes. In the depression year of 1932 he graduated from nearby Eureka College, a conservative Protestant institution, where he had been active in sports and drama. Hoping for a Hollywood career, he worked in radio as a sports announcer until a screen test won him a contract at Warner Brothers in 1937. During the next decade and a half he appeared in some 50 films.

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