Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter R

Today closes out the third week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I hope you're enjoying these posts.

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States. Born in Illinois in 1911, he earned a Bachelor's Degree in economics and sociology from Eureka College. After a brief career in radio broadcasting, Reagan moved to Los Angeles and became an actor. A staunch Democrat, he changed political parties in 1962 and delivered a powerful speech for Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964.

Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966. In 1968, shortly after beginning his term as governor, Reagan sought the Republican presidential nomination, running unsuccessfully against Richard M. Nixon. Reagan was re-elected as governor in 1970, but declined to run for a third term.

Reagan ran unsuccessfully against Gerald Ford for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, but Ford went on to lose to Democrat Jimmy Carter for president. Embroiled with domestic problems and the Iran hostage crisis, Jimmy Carter lost his bid for reelection to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Not even 100 days into his first term, an attempt was made on Reagan's life. He became the first president to survive an assassination attempt. Believing big government to be a problem, Reagan attempted to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts and the slashing of government programs. Reagan's policy of trickle-down economics was criticized as helping the wealthy more than those suffering in poverty, and the 80s soon became known as "The Decade of Greed." His "peace through strength" policy supported a large military build up. Reagan denounced the Soviet Union as an evil empire and during a moving address in Berlin in the summer of 1987, he called for General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." A series of summits with Gorbachev would lead to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at the White House. By 1989, the Cold War was over and the Soviet Union collapsed.

The invasion of Grenada, the firing of more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers, and the Iran-Contra affair tested public support of Reagan, but he would leave office as the most popular president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ronald Reagan died in 2004, after battling Alzheimer's Disease for 10 years.