Reagan, Ronald Wilson

40th president of the USA 1981–89, a Republican. He was governor of California 1966–74, and a former Hollywood actor. Reagan was a hawkish and popular president. He adopted an aggressive foreign policy in Central America, attempting to overthrow the government of Nicaragua, and invading Grenada in 1983. In 1987, Irangate was investigated by the Tower Commission; Reagan admitted that USA–Iran negotiations had become an ‘arms for hostages deal’, but denied knowledge of resultant funds being illegally sent to the Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. He increased military spending (sending the national budget deficit to record levels), cut social programmes, introduced the deregulation of domestic markets, and cut taxes. His Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), announced in 1983, proved controversial owing to the cost, unfeasibility, and opposition from the USSR. He was succeeded by Vice-President George Bush.

Reagan became a Hollywood actor in 1937 and appeared in 50 films, including Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), and The Killers (1964).

He joined the Republican Party in 1962, and his term as governor of California was marked by battles against student protesters. Having lost the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976 to Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford respectively, Reagan won it in 1980 and defeated President Jimmy Carter. He was wounded in an assassination attempt in 1981. The invasion of Grenada, following a coup there, generated a revival of national patriotism, and this, along with his record of tax cutting, was one of the various causes of his landslide re-election in 1984. His last years in office were dominated by friction with the USSR over the SDI, popularly called Star Wars because incoming missiles would be intercepted in space.