Ronald Reagan

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." would one day be the famous words of a baby boy born in Tampico, Illinois, on February 6, 1911. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to John Edward Reagan and Nellie Wilson Reagan. Dutch was the nickname given to him by his father because he resembled a little fat Dutch boy. During Reagan's early childhood he and his family lived in numerous towns. Eventually settling in Dixon, Ill Reagan's father Jack opened a shoe store in 1928.

Reagan was married twice; Jane Wyman was his first wife and then married Nancy Davis after divorcing Jane in 1948. Reagan signed a seven year contract with the one and only 'Warner Brothers" in 1937. Over the next few years, Reagan appeared in about 50 movies. In 1954 Reagan got a job as a host of a television series titled The General Electric Theater. This is when his Hollywood filming career began to wind down. During this time is when his political views changed from liberal to conservative. It was when he led pro business discussions and speaking out against government regulation and wasteful spending.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan had an assassination attempt on his life. As President Ronald Reagan was leaving the Washington Hotel with his advisors, shots were fired and Secret Service agents threw Reagan into his limo and rushed to the hospital. His so called killer, John Hinckley Jr , shot three other people, none of them seriously injured. At the hospital, doctors found out that the killer's bullet had entered one of the president's lungs and nearly missed his heart. Knowing the president, he cracked a joke saying to the doctors " I hope you're Republicans." And later said to his wife "Sorry honey, I forgot to duck.".

Some highlights of Ronald Reagan's political career and life are the following: - Switched from Democrat to Republican - Served two terms as Governor of California - Survived an assassination attempt on his life on March 30, 1981 - On January 20, 1989, Reagan leaves office with a public opinion higher than Franklin D. Roosevelt What surprised me was that he changed his political views from Democrat to Republican so early on. I mentioned at the beginning of the project a famous quote by President Reagan. This quote was made when Reagan addressed the people of Berlin at the base of Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall. This was the beginning of the end of Communism.

So to recap we learned that Reagan was born in Tampico,Ill on February 6, 1911. He was married twice; Jane Wyman was his first wife and then married Nancy Davis after divorcing Jane in 1948 and signed a seven year contract with the one and only 'Warner Brothers" in 1937. He also survived an assassination attempt. But President Reagan is most famous for the end of communism in Mother Russia.