Lived

February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004

Home State

California

Party

Republican

Vice President

George H. W. Bush

Ronald Reagan was a former Hollywood actor and two-term governor of California who reshaped the Republican Party and American politics. He cut marginal income tax rates, built up the military, and confronted the Soviet Union, eventually signing the INF Treaty eliminating an entire class of nuclear weapons. He also signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. The Iran–Contra affair, the expansion of the national debt, and the slow response to the HIV/AIDS crisis remain contested parts of his record. Hollywood film actor, President of the Screen Actors Guild, spokesman for General Electric, two-term Governor of California.

Eureka College, 1932.

Signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act cutting marginal income tax rates. Signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 broadening the base and lowering rates. Signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Negotiated the INF Treaty with Mikhail Gorbachev, the first treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. His 'Tear down this wall' speech in Berlin anticipated the fall of the Wall in 1989. Signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act (1981), the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986), and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.

The Iran–Contra affair — arms sales to Iran to fund Nicaraguan Contras in violation of the Boland Amendment — produced multiple convictions later overturned or pardoned. His administration's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic was widely criticized as too slow. The doubling of the national debt during his terms broke with prior Republican fiscal orthodoxy. Signed a large tax increase in 1982 alongside his cuts.