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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (157989)	1/14/2003 1:17:34 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1591089

Interesting bio on Mr. Reagan ____________________________________________________________ americanpresident.org THE "PRIME-TIME" PRESIDENT A Life in Brief A bigger-than-life screen actor and television personality, Ronald Reagan moved from being governor of California in the 1960s to president of the United States and dominating American politics in the 1980s. He was the first president to be reelected to a second term since Dwight D. Eisenhower. Media-made and media-presented, Reagan got millions of Americans to feel proud of their nation once again after years of scandal, humiliating setbacks in foreign affairs, and tarnished politics. Although his conservative principles failed to fundamentally alter the course of American society or government, America's forty-year Cold War with the Soviet Union cooled considerably (and perhaps actually ended) during Reagan's presidency. Many Americans credit him with having achieved that significant outcome. Born the son of a shoe salesman in small-town Illinois, Reagan's impoverished but loving parents instilled in the lad a sense of optimism that carried him through college as an average student but handsome young man. After graduation he worked for a few years as a sports broadcaster in midwestern radio before landing a film contract with Warner Brothers, which took him to Hollywood in 1936. Over the next thirty years, Reagan made scores of second rate films—and a few good ones—including army films produced during World War II. He hosted two popular television series, and he actively engaged in politics as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Political Aspirations and Success In the 1950s, Reagan changed from being a Roosevelt New Deal Democrat to a conservative Republican. Some Reagan observers credit his marriage to Nancy Reagan, a film actress and daughter of a wealthy and very conservative Chicago doctor, for this conversion. Others explain his shift in politics by pointing out Reagan's role in opposing any communist influence in the guild as well as his high-paid TV jobs sponsored by American corporations. In 1966, Reagan became governor of California. He was reelected in 1970. Using his popularity in California, Reagan unsuccessfully challenged President Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976. He tried again and won the nomination in 1980, and thereafter defeated the incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter by a wide margin in the electoral college vote. With his 1984 reelection victory, Reagan became the most politically successful Republican president since Eisenhower. Governing by Big Principles The oldest man to ever serve as president, Reagan supported a New Right agenda that promised tax cuts, deregulation of the economy, increased military spending, a halt to runaway inflation, and reduced spending for social welfare programs. This agenda promised to reverse the active role of government in American life that had begun with President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs in the 1930s. Reagan succeeded in promoting the concept of less government and significantly reduced the rate of social spending on welfare programs while stopping inflation cold by 1984. But his refusal to raise taxes or to scale back on huge expenditures for defense produced a soaring deficit. During Reagan's term in office, the overall national debt tripled. In foreign affairs, Reagan promised a death struggle with the Soviet Union's "evil empire" that required massive defense spending by the U.S. To this end, Reagan supported and obtained a "star wars" defense budget that represented the greatest military build-up during peace times in American history. His anti-Soviet talk abruptly switched to more conciliatory rhetoric in his second term, however, when the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, expressed a willingness to end the Cold War by arms reduction and political reform in Eastern Europe. By the end of his second term, Reagan had visited Moscow and hailed Gorbachev as his "friend." As a leader, Reagan practiced a style that delegated authority to subordinates while he concentrated on the "big principles." It was a style that left him isolated from the day-to-day operations of his administration. His closest confidant was his wife, Nancy Reagan, who commanded an extraordinary influence over him and over government personnel within the White House. The Reagan presidency ended on a low note because of the Iran-Contra scandal. To gain the release of Americans held hostage by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon, the Reagan administration began secretly selling weapons to Iran. Profits from these transactions were used to fund the anticommunist Contras who were fighting a leftist regime in Nicaragua. These actions violated the law as well as Reagan's pledge never to provide arms to terrorist nations. A special investigation implicated top members of Reagan's administration, several of whom were indicted and sentenced to jail. Reagan himself escaped the political upheaval because no clear evidence surfaced linking him to the transfer of funds to the Contras. EDIT. It seems guns and money go hand in hand with the GOP. Reagan's presidency reaffirmed the traditional American values of individualism and restored the public's sense of patriotism. He embodied the essential markings of the American character—its sense of optimism and self-assurance. Reagan’s foreign policy greatly facilitated the historic reforms that ultimately ended the Cold War with the Soviet Union. But the consequences of his economic programs left the nation burdened with an out-of-control deficit and an unequal distribution of wealth that greatly favored the very rich. Life Before The Presidency