Ronald W. Reagan was the 40th president to serve this country. He was the oldest president to date, to serve in that capacity. It was his style of presidential leadership that reversed the economic and social trend of the past two generations.

Mr. Reagan grew familiar with the media and public as an actor, and took those skills and applied them with success during his campaigning as a means of communication.

Mr. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois in 1911. Ronald was the youngest child of John and Nelle Reagan. John Reagan was a traveling shoe salesman with an alcoholic background and Nelle spent much of her time teaching her youngest to read at an early age. Ronald spent most of his childhood in Dixon, Illinois.

His first experience with running a presidency position was in Eureka College after winning a scholarship to that college and majoring in economics. This is also where he became interested in an acting career. He was captain of the swimming team and played football as well.

His resume includes sports casting after graduation for WHO radio station in Des Moines, Iowa in 1932.

He earned a 25 year career in show-business in Hollywood, California. He acted in more than 50 films including KNUTE ROCKNE-ALL AMERICAN, in 1940.

He married twice to two different actresses. The first was Jane Wyman, whom he had two children. The second to Nancy Davis in 1952 and also had two children, Patricia and Ronald.

His political career began as an Union leader from 1947 to 1954. He was a registered Democrat until 1962. In 1964 Mr. Reagan made a television speech supporting Republican presidential candidate U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. Goldwater lost the election, but Mr. Reagan's speech brought in money and praise from Republicans from around the country. He was then asked to run for governor of California in 1966 and won by almost 1,000,000 votes. Mr. Reagan was governor for 8 years. After serving his term he decided to run for the presidency in 1976, but lost. He planned to run again in the 1980 elections, and this time he won.

In the beginning of his presidency, Ronald Reagan presided over the most far-reaching changes in U.S. Government economic and social policies in half a century. But he was poorly informed about facts and deligated most work to his staff.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest by John W. Hinckley. Public sympathy helped Reagan to push his programs through the Congress of the United States.

Reagan inherited the recession from the Carter administration, that being unemployment at almost 11% and high interest rates even with the recession reducing inflation. Thus, Reaganomics was introduced.

Reagan promised to keep taxes down, and won the 1984 election by 59% of the popular vote. During his last two years in office, Reagan himself could not run for re-election and found it harder to get his legislative proposals enacted.

Vice President, George Bush, succeeded Reagan in 1986. Reagan's major accomplishments included tax cuts which benefitted upper income taxpayers, cuts in spending for government social programs including job training, college loans, food and medical programs, payments for those with disabilities, child day care centers, centers for the ederly. Programs such as social security and medicare were left intact.

During retirement, Reagan wrote his life story, "An American Life", which was published in 1990. In 1991, he presided over the opening of the Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. In 1994, Reagan announced he had Alzheimer's Disease, a degenerative disease of the brain. In 1995, Mr. and Mrs. Reagan, along with the National Alzheimer's Association would establish the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute to help find treatments and eventually a cure for the disease.