FEBRUARY 6 — Happy birthday Mom!; 1911 Ronald Reagan’s birthday
FEBRUARY 6
Happy birthday mommy!
1911 – Happy birthday Ronald Rawhide The gipper Reagan, #40!
…Born to Nelle and Jack Reagan in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911, Ronald was nicknamed Dutch as a baby when Jack commented he looked like a little fat Dutchman. Jack was a shoe salesman, and although he was a charismatic one he was also unemployed often and the Reagans moved to various towns throughout Illinois, finally settling in Dixon where Ronald graduated from high school. Though the family didn’t have much money, Ronald had fond memories of Nellie giving away generously to charities. During summers, Dutch worked long hours as a lifeguard and saved 77 lives.
He attended Eureka College on an athletic scholarship playing football, but was only an average student. He’s one of only three presidents who majored in economics besides George W. Bush and Gerald Ford. He was also involved in school plays, which eventually became a career for him. Dutch graduated from college in 1932 at a time when a quarter of America’s population was unemployed and found work as a sports announcer for the Chicago Cubs in Des Moines, IA. In 1937 Reagan accompanied the Cubs to southern California for spring training, when a friend of his arranged a screen test with Warner Bros. Reagan got the contract in Hollywood and spent the next couple decades appearing in 53 films. One of his most famous roles was the part of Notre Dame football player George Gipp in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American. It was this movie where he had the famous line: Win one for the Gipper.
During WWII, Reagan was disqualified to serve in combat due to his poor eyesight, so he spent his military career making training films. He married Jane Wyman, and they had two children together; one daughter and one adopted son. Ronald and Jane divorced in 1948, becoming only the only divorced president up until Donald Trump. The Gipper became the president of the Screen Actors Guild for a number of years, and met Nancy Davis, who was mistakenly blacklisted from Hollywood for being a communist sympathizer. The two married in 1952, and had two children, Patricia Ann and Ronald. Reagan’s acting career reached a plateau, and at one point in 1954 he became a standup comic for a very brief time, like, a couple weeks I think. Good thing he didn’t quit his day job.
As president of the SAG, Reagan became involved in issues with Communism in the movie industry and hosted a weekly television drama called General Electric Theater where he toured the country as a public relations representative for GE. Through these actions, the Gipper’s political stance switched from liberal to conservative as he criticized too much government control and wasteful spending. On October 27, 1964, the Gipper entered the national political spotlight by delivering a speech in favor of Republican Barry Goldwater. Though Reagan’s speech on government conservatism was well received, Goldwater lost the election in a landslide. In 1966, through Nancy’s support, Ronald was elected governor of California, where he served two terms. From there, ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States in 1968 and 1976.
But then in 1980, The Gibber won the big one, defeating incumbent president Jimmy carter 489-49 in electoral votes. Jelly bean man Reagan was the oldest president at age 69 to take office up until Donald Trump. Reagan famously said in his inaugural speech: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem.” And two months later, the Gipper became the only president in history to survive an assassination attempt. John Hinckley Jr., a madman who was trying to impress actress Jodie Foster, shot the president and the bullet pierced Reagan’s lung, barely missing his heart. He told Nancy, Honey, I forgot to duck. True story. In fact, he also told his doctors, “I hope you’re all Republicans.” And Dutch Reagan would not be denied, and was back at work within a few weeks.
In domestic policies, Reagan used his political savvy with Congress, implementing tax cuts to stimulate economic growth, curbed inflation, and increasing military spending, trimming down certain social programs, and measures that deregulated business. By 1983 America was on the road to recovery, though Reagan was criticized that the deficit was increasing, which negatively affected the middle class and poor, even though millions of low-income people were exempted from paying income tax.
Meanwhile, back at the White House, Reagan loved jelly beans, wore a hearing aid, signed legislation that made Martin Luther King’s birthday a federal holiday, was twice named Man of the Year by Time Magazine, and loved to ride horses on his ranch. He was also the first president to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court that would be Sandra Day O’Conner. He also referred to the Soviet Union as an evil empire, which brings us to Reagan’s foreign policies. Using peace through strength, the Reagan doctrine provided aid to anti-communist countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In 1983 he introduced the Strategic Defensive Initiative, or Star Wars, to try to develop weapons in outer space to destroy any incoming nuclear missiles from the Soviet Union. After Libyans attacked a nightclub in West Berlin, as well as a Marine base in Beirut which killed 241 American soldiers, Reagan sent U.S. bombers to Libya to send a message to their leader Muammar Gaddafi. While the Iran-Iraq war raged on, Reagan sent naval escorts to the Persian gulf to maintain the free flow of oil. In Grenada, which is an island in the Caribbean, Reagan sent troops to unrest a Marxist revolution.
Then came the presidential election of 1984. Walter Mondale debated The Great Communicator, and challenged him on his old age. But the Gipper would come out swinging, closing the final debate by saying, “I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Reagan destroyed Mondale, carrying 49 out of 50 states and receiving record number 525 electoral votes. Three and a half tons of Jelly Bellys were sent to the White House in honor of his favorite sugary snack.
But when the American public found out that an arms-for-hostage deal was made with Iran to funnel money towards anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua in an attempt to free hostages held by Hezbollah in in Lebanon, The Teflon President’s reputation was forever tarnished. But only slightly, compared to Reagan’s skillful ability to handle Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Negotiating a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. The Gipper wasn’t finished yet. The Great Communicator went to the Berlin Wall; the ultimate symbol of communism in Germany, and challenged Gorbachev to tear it down. Two years later, Gorbachev would take Reagan’s challenge, and allowed the people of Berlin to dismantle it, thus reunifying Germany. Reagan himself went to Berlin, armed with a hammer, and took away a few chunks for himself for good measure.
When Rawhide Reagan left office, he had the highest approval rating since FDR. Due to his Reagan Revolution, the American people were reinvigorated. This great nation enjoyed its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without a recession. Vice President George Bush was elected to take his place, and he shed a tear as Reagan left the White House. Ronnie and Nancy Reagan returned to Los Angeles, and in 1991, the beautiful $57M Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum opened in Simi Valley. But as time went on, Reagan would forget all of it. In 1994 he sent a handwritten letter to the American public that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Nearly ten years later, Ronald Reagan died, age 93. He taught America once again to dream heroic dreams.
Happy birthday Ronald!