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Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
Born in Dixon, Illinois, Reagan graduated Eureka College and became a sportscaster in Iowa. He took a screen test in California in 1937 and was signed to a contract with Warner Brothers Studio. He spent the next five years acting in movies before enlisting in the army, where he made promotional films during World War II. He became president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947 and was reelected several times.
Reagan moved from movies into television in the 1950s and became the host of the General Electric Theater, a weekly network program that raised his national profile. Televised speeches he gave in support of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign led him to a successful run for Governor of California in 1966. He sought the Republican nomination for president unsuccessfully in 1968 and 1976, but secured it four years later.
Reagan appealed to traditional conservative principles in his 1980 campaign: strong national defense, fewer government programs, more state and local control over benefits, and contracting out services instead of expanding government. He won an overwhelming victory in the 1980 presidential election, and confirmed his conservative principles in his First Inaugural Address. Four years later, he was reelected with the second largest electoral vote margin in the 20th century. He died of pneumonia at age 93, setting an age record that has since been broken by Jimmy Carter.
First Inaugural Address (1981)
Ronald Reagan began his Inaugural Address by praising the peaceful transfer of power from President Jimmy Carter–something Americans took for granted until 2021. He then invoked the themes that had dominated his campaign: reducing the size of government and its tax burden, promoting economic prosperity, and improving the lives of ordinary Americans. His principal message was that Americans do best when they find their own solutions to problems, rather than rely on the government to solve all their problems. He ended with an affirmation of the role of the US to preserve freedom at home and abroad.
To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.
Mr. President [Carter], I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.
The business of our nation goe