By: Moy L., Andreea N., and Gurbaksh S.

 

What Does it Take to be a Great President?

 

Ronald Reagan

 

 

Where I Live(ed):

I was born and raised in Illinois. After college, I moved to Iowa for my first job. My acting career started when I was in Los Angeles, California and I followed my job where it took me, spending most of my time in California. I became governer of California and did not leave until the presidency brought me into Washington D.C. After 8 years in the white house, it was time for me to return back home to California, where i lived out the rest of my years.

 

About Me:

I am an American and proud of it. I served my country as a captain of the U.S. Air Forces and later as the 40th president. One of my greatest accomplishments is ending the cold war before any severe violence broke out.  Aside from being a polititian, I am also a passionate actor. So if you miss me, you can always rent one of the 55 movies I acted in. :D

 

Date of Birth:

February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois

 

Date of Death:

June 5, 2004 in Los Angeles, California

 

Sex:

Male

 

Political Views:

I am a Republican. Go elephants!

 

Religious Views:

I am a Christain. In fact, I was a member of the Young Men's Christain Association or as we like to call it, the YMCA.

 

Years Served as President:

I was president for two consecutive terms, from 1981 to 1989.

 

Status:

Married to Jane Whyman then divorced in 1948, Remarried to Nancy Davis in 1952

 

Children:

My children from my first marriage are Maureen Elizabeth and Micheal Edward and from my second marriage my children are Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.

 

Looking for:

Friendship, networking

Occupations:

From 1932- 1933 I was a sports announcer on WOC.

From 1932- 1937 I was a sports announcer and editor.

From 1937-1964 I was an actor in MORE than 50 feature films =)

From 1954- 1962 I was an actor, production supervisor, and speaker througout the United States for General Electric's person relations program.

From 1962-1965 I was the host and actor on the Death Valley Days television series.

1967-1974 I was the governor of California.

and from 1981-1989 I was the president of the United States (yeah, that's right, the president)

 

So I'm a very accomplished person =)

 

Interests/Hobbies:

• Acting (when WWII broke out, I made many movies about the war and the soldiers).
• Speaking in front of crowds
• Politics (obviously).
• The Screen Actors' Guild
• Foreign affairs while I was the president (especially the Cold War). 

 

Education:

I went to Eureka College in 1932 and I got a B.A. (WOOHOO) =)

 

Favorite Books:

A Fighting Man of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers, The President Vanishes by Rex Stout, and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

 

Favorite Movies:

 Movies I acted in (of course).  Love Is on the Air, Dark Victory, Angels Wash Their Faces, Hong Kong, Prisoner of War, and The Hasty Heart.

 

Favorite Music (back when music was good!):

All the Things You Are (1939)

Over the Rainbow (1939)

I Got Rhythm (1930)

Jukebox Saturday Night (1942)

V1 Doodlebug (1940's)

 

Friends:

• Patti Davis
• George H. W. Bush

Sports:

• Football!
• Baseball     
• I like water sports, my first job was as a lifegaurd. I knotched a mark on a wooden log for every life that I saved, and overall saved 77 lives! (Yes, that's right I'm pretty cool! But what counted was all of those wonderful lives I saved!!)
• Horseback riding

 

During my stint as president, the political, social and economic factors and challenges that I had to deal with (at home) included:

Political

• I had to deal with the fighting within that tore the Californian Republican party, but I kept it from breaking apart.
• I fought against the discrimination against women by appointing the first female Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, in July 1981.
• I endorsed Arizona senator, Barry Goldwater, in a speech in 1964 and became the leader of the American conservative movement.

 

Social

• I calmed anti/pro-communist aggression and helped defeat a stike by a rival union and a communist front group.

• To stop the violent Berkley riots between radical student activists and law enforcement officials, I compromised on the proposal to impose a tuition on the students.

• I implimented domestic policies against crime, drugs and pornography to make America a better place to live for our children.

 

Economic

• There was a double digit inflation rate at nearly 12% that i brought down to manageable levels.
• I faced declining wages for the American workers and ended up creating 15 million new jobs and increasing the per-capita income.
• There was slow growth in the economy but I fixed that by cutting taxes and lessening federal regulations, as I am a firm believer in ecomonic "lassez-faire".
• After I became president, the stock market doubled and halved mortgage rates.
• Even though it left national budget defecits, I helped raise the economy by reducing spending on domestic programs, cutting taxes, and increased federal defense expenses and have my own ecomonic policy named after me, "Reaganomics".
• As part of the Screen Actors Guild, I led the first successful strike against movie producers, to stop the exploitation of workers in the movie business.

 

 

During my stint as president, the political, social and economic factors and challenges that I had to deal with (abroad) included:

 

Political

• I propsed the Zero Option plan which stated that nearly all of the intermediate-range nuclear forces should be eliminated.  This was one of the many, many ways I tried to get rid of/stop the processing of nuclear weapons.
• I proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative which claimed that through the use of satellites and lasers, incoming missiles could be detected and therefore make nuclear war fade away. 
• In 1985 I helped retaliate terrorism by bombing places that were the centers of mass-terrorists. After this there was a decrease in the amount of terrorist attacks.  

 

Social

• I became an...acquaintance of Gorbachev's when he first became the leader of the Soviet Union.

• I supported anti-communism completely and this included supporting anti-communist third world countries such as Nicaragua, Angola, Cambodia, and Mozambique.

• I was good friends with Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister.  Margaret Thatcher encouraged me greatly to find alternative methods to stop this nuclear arms race by accomodating accordingly with the Russians.

• Just as I was becoming president,  the hostages that were being held in Iran were released.  I did not mean for this to happen, seeing as how it was the same day that Jimmy Carter left the office, but both he and I were absolutely delighted to know the hostages were unharmed when they returned to their families.

 

Economic

• I supported many anti-communist countries (third world countries as well) and so I therefore gave many of them weapons so they had the materials to aid us in our fight against communism.  This bettered their economy and it helped ours in production of these materials that were being used for the better of man kind.

 

Looking back at my presidential career, I had to wear several "hats."  Wearing these different "hats," these were my most significant achievements and failures:

 

Commander-in-Chief

As commander-in-chief I not only had a vision, but I also had he abiity to follow through to make that vision a reality.  I am greatly opposed to communism and during my presidency I helped in the process of removing that evil from this earth.  I do not take full credit for this removal; however the friendship I built with Gorbachev was a great advantage in ending this nuclear arms race. 

Chief Executive

As Chief Executive I established a good image of stong mindedness mixed in with a bit of self deprecation. I remained pretty high in public opinion polls, and even know some people viewed me as lazy and lacking in knowledge.

Chief Diplomat

I bargained with the Soviet Leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to get rid of the use of deadly nuclear missiles.  I also gained many friends through my campaign of anti-communism in many third world countries. 

Ceremonial Head of State

As with my job as being the Ceremonial Head of State, I was a great communicator and comforted America during the Challenger space disaster.

Manager of the Economy

As manager of the Economy, I tried to help American citizens and I wanted to overall lower taxes, create a smaller government, and increase the Military.  My policy was to live in the now and it was thought to be philisophical.

Party Leader

As party leader, I dealt with the fighting from within the Californian Republican party and kept the party from breaking apart.

National Leader

As national leader, as I mentioned before, I played a major role in the end of the Cold War by befriending the leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, and ultimately using my plan, the SDI, to scare them out of the nuclear arms race.  I was also known as a good speaker and communicator, which is how I got my nickname as the great commmunicator.

 

Favorite Quote About Me by a Famous Historian:

"...some people belive that Reagan deserves a place on Mount Rushmore" -Chester Patch

 

Fun fact about Me:

 I was the oldest president ever to be elected. =) That is pretty sweet!

 

Positive Political Cartoon

 

Negative Political Cartoon

 

Works Cited:

 

Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC>.

 

"Ronald Reagan." American Decades. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC>.

 

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