“Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.”(Ronald Reagan) This is a quotation made by the most optimistic man to have effect on the United States Ronald Reagan had monumental efforts and ideas to improve the United States. Ronald Reagan’s optimism had a very positive influence on the United States and helped them get through the hardships and struggles of the 1900s. Ronald Reagan was a very optimistic person because he was very inspirational and a great person.
Ronald Reagan was born February 6th, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. John Reagan and Nelle Reagan raised him to be an open minded individual. As a child, he moved around from various cities in Illinois up to the point where they moved back into Tampico. Growing up as a child, Reagan held many interests such as sports, acting, politics and government, and doing the right things for his country. As Reagan progressed with normal high school education, he attended Eureka College in 1928 and graduated in 1932 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Sociology. As Ronald Reagan attended Eureka, he enrolled in sports such as football and was an outstanding player. Since he enjoyed sports so much, he decided to pursue a job as a radio announcer and commentator for sports. This job lasted 5 years, until he decided he wanted to start an acting career in 1937 and went to Hollywood.
Shortly after arriving in Hollywood, he attained his first big role in the movie Knute Rockne-All American. During his acting career, he met a woman named Jane Wyman and married her in the early 1940s. The relationship wasn’t stable enough to last, because soon Reagan fell in love with the Screen Actors Guild that he became the president of in 1947 until 1952. Ronald Reagan was very supportive of World War II. He starred in war movies to contribute to the efforts going on in Europe at the time. During this period of time, Ronald Reagan had always stayed optimistic and never doubted anything the United States did. As Ronald Reagan got older, he met another woman named Nancy Davis who was an actress, which he married in 1952. Since Ronald Reagan was extremely happy with Nancy, he decided to make sure he spent enough time with her by dropping acting. Making this huge decision, he compromised by then going to television and shooting commercials.
After picking up television, Ronald Reagan’s political career began to pick up as he formally enrolled in the Republican Party. He stayed extremely active with politics and the Republican side of things. “He captured national attention with a speech supporting Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964.”(Notable biographies) Taking another step forward, he became the governor of California, a democratic state, with “shrewd” campaigning in 1965. He was then again reelected in 1970, when he began to take immediate actions to better the state of California. He cut the state’s budget, raised income-tax rates, and “froze” additional hiring for state agencies. By doing all of this, Ronald Reagan thought it’d be better to be conservative than to rely on money to help people. He also made it a lot harder to get help from the government of California because people would constantly ask for money. After doing all of this for the state of California, Reagan thought that he could help the United States, too, by running for president. Ronald Reagan tried to become president for about 10years before he was finally elected into office.
“His election was viewed by many as a “new beginning,” as the Republicans also won control of the Senate.”(Notable biographies) Ronald Reagan wanted to run a clean, honest presidency. He stuck the same goals he had in California as governor, such as being as conservative as possible. Since Reagan was so optimistic, and knew a lot of what he was talking about, he was nicknamed the Great Communicator. When his second term came around, he won the reelection but American was not in good shape. People counted on Reagan to help reduce the debt, or deficit, that had long been taunting America. During Reagan’s second presidency, the debt was at a record high and was never dealt with. Some in his administration questioned Reagan’s second term as a misuse of power. By the time the second term had ended for Ronald Reagan, it was noticeable that he did not achieve his ultimate goal of a “conservative revolution”, although he did strengthen the Supreme Court’s idea on conservatism.
After Reagan’s political and theatrical career had ended, he went back to his private life. A few years after his career, he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is a very serious disease that messes with brain and can falter one’s memory. Ronald Reagan never showed up for public appearances again after being diagnosed. On June 5th, 2004, it was a sad day when Ronald Reagan had died. His legacy lives on today, as the United States becomes more and more conservative everyday. His attitude towards things isn’t easy to forget, because it’s always nice to know someone is looking on the Brightside of things even in the hardest of times. The United States was the perfect home for Ronald Reagan optimism. “It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?”(Ronald Reagan)