Essay: Ronald Reagan

The little town of Dixon Illinois was the whole world for ‘Dutch’, little did anybody know that this little boy, from this little town would be important to the entire United states. He would become a president. At a time when America was losing it’s strength, Ronald Reagan was there to help. He brought knowledge, and courage to those who needed it most.
Ronald Reagan’s legacy started as a child, with his religious mother, and attitude to be successful and live his dreams.The effort that Ronald Reagan gave to many people, started small when Reagan was a child. Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico Illinois on February 6, 1911. His Father raised him calling him his ‘Little Dutch Boy’ or just ‘Dutch’. Dutch later moved to Dixon, and Dixon was the place for Reagan. Ronald Reagan once said ‘All of us have our places to go to, Dixon was that place for me.’ Dixon changed Reagan, and gave him the opportunity to challenge himself, yet, have fun in many ways. It wasn’t growing up in Dixon that helped in his childhood and future life, it was his mother. Reagan’s mother was very religious and encouraged many good things. Reagan’s father, on the other hand, was a severe alcoholic. Once his father drank so much that he passed out in the snow, and Reagan, not knowing what else to do, ended up dragging his father back into the house. Ronald Reagan later learned from his mother that drinking was a disease. His their mother encouraged them to not become like their father.
Reagan’s life of legacy did not end there, however. Later in his life, his active childhood would lead to greater things, like achieving football dreams and other sports. He was captain of the swim team and save 77 people as a lifeguard. His strong work ethic developed during his childhood got him into college. Difficulties with money through the depression era made it hard for him to stay in college. While struggling to stay in college the dean of the college tried to make faculty cutbacks to save money. Many college students at the time believed the cutbacks to be unfair and went on strike. They called a meeting in the middle of the night to protest the cutbacks. Reagan lead the meeting giving inspirational speeches to all those attending the meeting. Hours later, though they had fought hard, they learned that what they were fighting for was a mistake, and that they had misunderstood what the cutbacks were actually for. Even though Reagan’s effort was misguided, Reagan learned that he was a very talented public speaker. Hs public speaking skills opened up many opportunities for him. He became a radio personality. Reagan had a knack for speaking. Due to his strong speaking abilities he inspired people and would be known much later in life as ‘The Great Communicator.’ He came to WOC radio ‘from Eureka College looking for a job. They hired him on a temporary basis,” Kennedy explained (Quad City Times). He later ended up speaking at the WOC radio station for quite a few years, and loved the opportunity. After his time radio he began to pursue an acting career. He had fond memories of acting in high school. (Spark Notes).
He ran for Governor of California in 1966. He served as governor for eight years or until 1975. Reagan ran against Gerald Ford in 1976 for the Republican nomination. He lost, but gave a touching and inspirational speech known as ‘A time for Choosing.’ The speech won him national recognition and launched his political career. Eventually, he ran for president against Jimmy Carter in a landslide election winning 489 of 538 electoral votes.He became president on January 20, 1981. Only 69 days after Ronald Reagan election, he found himself in an assassination attack, but survived when the bullet bounced off the car and hit him in the shoulder. He later recovered and went back to his presidential duties. While president of the United States of America Regan protected our country and even other countries from communism and even perhaps nuclear war. (Ronald Reagan the 40th president by Neil E. Robbins Page 17)
Ronald Reagan cared about the welfare of Americans. But helping people required effort, effort that Reagan was willing to give. In the The White House article by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey it says, ‘In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve “peace through strength.” During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union.’ he wanted to protect not only his people, but other people in other countries also, he was not afraid to insult the soviet Union, for the things that they did wrong. ‘In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub.’ Reagan was widely known for the politics he put in place. Reagan believed that ‘The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.’