In 1940, Reagan married actress Jane Wyman.
They had a daughter Maureen and adopted a boy named Michael. The
couple divorced in 1948.
Reagan was remarried, to actress Nancy Davis, in
1952. Together, they had two children, Patricia and Ronald.
A Democrat until the 1950s, Reagan became more
conservative and then a Republican in 1962. He won his first public
office in 1966 when he was elected governor of California. He had
campaigned on a platform of lower taxes and government spending and
worked to slash the welfare rolls. Some critics found his manner of
cutting spending mean-spirited because it targeted the poor. But even
more supported the cuts. America is a country with a strong work
ethic and spirit of self-responsibility. Economic failure is not
regarded with much sympathy in a country that prides itself on being
the land of opportunity.
Reagan remained popular even after he sponsored
tax increases. Ironically, one of his tax hikes was the largest in
the state’s history. He was reelected governor in 1970 and served
until 1975.
Reagan campaigned for the Republican
presidential nomination in 1968 and lost. He tried again in 1976 and
lost to President Gerald Ford. He went for it a third time and won in
1980, then defeated President Jimmy Carter.
As president, Reagan made economic proposals
that slashed both taxes and the budget for welfare and unemployment
programs. These measures were popularly called Reaganomics. Unlike
the less ideologically conservative President Richard Nixon, Reagan
tended to get favorable treatment even with the press that has been so
often seen as having a liberal bias.
One reason for Reagan’s popularity was his
appearance. He had a ruddy-cheeked open face with an easy smile and
eyes that twinkled. Nixon always believed that the press loved to
“kick him around” because of his conservatism, but Reagan was far more
consistently right-wing and got better press than the beetle-browed,
funny-nosed Nixon. Unlike the notoriously stiff Nixon, the ex-actor
possessed an affable manner and a way with jokes that endeared him
even to many who despised his politics. Indeed, while Nixon was often
savagely attacked, even Reagan’s critics tended to make fun of him in
a gentle manner, concentrating on such things as his notoriously poor
memory (toward the latter part of his second administration, this may
have been the result of early-stage Alzheimer’s).
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