On February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan was born in an apartment building in Tampico, Illinois. His family descended from Irish-Catholic immigrants who eventually made their way to Illinois. Reagan grew up attending public school, and went on to attend Eureka College for economics and sociology.
After graduating from college, Reagan began his career film in radio. He worked as an announcer for several radio stations, and landed a job as the announcer for the Chicago Cubs. While traveling with the Cubs, Reagan found himself in the film world when he signed a contract with Warner Brother’s Studios. He can been seen in movies such as Humphrey Bogart, Santa Fe Trail, and All American.
After serving briefly in the military, Reagan began his political career. In 1962 he made his transition from Democrat to Republican, coming out as a conservative voice of the Goldwater Campaign in 1964. Prior to his time in the white house, we can see some foreshadowing of the issues he would focus on in the presidency. For example, Reagan was stopped from leading an anti-nuclear rally by Warner Brother’s studios — which would soon be a major focus of his presidency.
In 1967 Reagan was elected as the Governor of California. Notably, during his governorship Reagan was in opposition of the Berkeley Student Protests. It was his order to send law enforcement catalyzed Bloody Thursday at Berkeley.
This is a very good post. Ronald Reagan is one of the more popular conservative presidents from our past as he in a way reformed modern conservatism, but it is interesting how you looked at his life before he came to office. Everyone knew he was an actor, but I just learned that before that he was a radio announcer. It is also interesting how California, now known for being a very liberal state, voted the Conservative Reagan as governor.
ReplyDeleteIntriguing post on Ronal Reagan. It's interesting to learn a bit about his childhood and history; it gives background to decisions he made and beliefs he had as president. It's very interesting that, after having a career in entertainment, he decided to go into politics. Why do you think he decided to shift his focus? For more information, go to: http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan
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