Reagan, Ronald (1911–2004)

RONALD REAGAN ENTERED politics after a long and successful career as a film and television actor. He would be a famous man even if he had never been elected president. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, on February 6, 1911, the younger of the two sons of John E. Reagan and Nelle Clyde (Wilson) Reagan. Reagan graduated from Dixon (Illinois) High School in 1928 and went to Eureka College, putting himself through by washing dishes at the women's dormitory, and graduating in 1932 with a degree in sociology and economics. He went to work as a sports announcer for an Iowa radio station, and it was at this time that he honed the storytelling skills that earned him as president the nickname “the ...