Ronald Reagan: life, ideas and books

Life

Ronald Reagan was born in 1911 in Tampico, Illinois, graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a radio sports announcer in Iowa. He moved to Hollywood in 1937, appeared in about 53 films and served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. In the 1950s he hosted General Electric Theater and spoke for the company across the country.

His 1964 television speech "A Time for Choosing" in support of Barry Goldwater launched his political career. He was elected governor of California in 1966 and served from 1967 to 1975. After losing the 1976 Republican nomination to Gerald Ford, he won the presidency in 1980 and served two terms from 1981 to 1989. He survived an assassination attempt in 1981. He announced his Alzheimer's diagnosis in 1994 and died in Los Angeles in 2004.

Ideas

Reagan advocated limited government, lower taxes, deregulation and a strong national defence, summarised in the term Reaganomics. In foreign policy he moved away from detente toward a military buildup and firm opposition to Soviet communism, and later negotiated arms-control agreements with Mikhail Gorbachev, including the INF Treaty. Inflation fell during his term and the economy enjoyed a long expansion, though the national debt rose substantially. Historians continue to debate the relative weight of his policies and other factors in the end of the Cold War.

Major works

• "A Time for Choosing" (1964).
• First Inaugural Address (1981).
• Farewell Address (1989).
• An American Life (1990), his memoir.

Why conservatives read him

Reagan is the model of a conservative leader who made limited government, economic growth and anticommunism a majority coalition, and his speeches remain a standard for communicating those ideas. Conservatives look to his record when arguing about taxes, spending, defence and presidential leadership, and they also debate which parts of his legacy, such as deficits and immigration reform, should be repeated.