(b. February 6, 1911; d. June 5, 2004) Fourtieth president of the United States (1981–1989).

Ronald Reagan took an unconventional route to the White House, as he spent almost three decades as a movie and television actor in Hollywood before entering electoral politics. A staunch anti-Communist, he helped bring about startling improvements in Soviet-American relations while president.

Reagan first became involved in politics through the Screen Actors Guild when he led efforts to protect the movie industry against alleged Communist subversion during the early years of the Cold War (1946–1991). Although he had been a New Deal Democrat, Reagan began to take more conservative positions on political issues, a shift that continued during the 1950s after he became a corporate spokesperson for the General Electric Company. By the early 1960s, Reagan had developed a set of views that guided his political career. He believed that the United States was an inspiration to...