Ronald Reagan

“Reagan” Biopic Premieres in Theaters: Dennis Quaid Steps into the Role of a Lifetime

The highly anticipated biopic Reagan premiered in theaters on August 30, featuring actor Dennis Quaid in the iconic role of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Although Quaid initially hesitated to take on the role despite his striking physical resemblance to the 40th president, his visit to the Reagan Ranch in California ultimately convinced him to pursue the part.

In an interview with the Today show, Quaid shared, “Coming through the gates, I could feel him there. Reagan was not a rich man, I realized. He was a very humble man, and that’s what led me into it.”

The film, which explores Reagan’s life from childhood to his presidency, also stars Penelope Ann Miller as his wife, Nancy Reagan. Quaid, now 70, dedicated several years to preparing for the role, studying Reagan’s voice through YouTube videos and delving into the former president’s personal life to bring authenticity to his performance.

“Reagan is like Muhammad Ali—you show a picture of him to anybody in the world, and they’re going to say, ‘That’s Reagan,’” Quaid remarked. “I didn’t want to do an impersonation. I wanted to get to the human being behind the public persona.”

With a combination of meticulous preparation and a deep understanding of the man behind the public image, Quaid’s portrayal of Ronald Reagan brings a new depth to the life of one of America’s most influential leaders.

Who Was Ronald Reagan?

Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, served two terms from 1981 to 1989. Before his political career, Reagan was a well-known actor, starring in over 50 films starting in the late 1930s. He also served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild, where his leadership skills began to emerge. A former liberal Democrat, Reagan switched to the Republican Party and won the California governorship in 1966, serving two terms before setting his sights on the White House. As president, Reagan implemented a conservative economic agenda and played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War, signing a historic agreement with the Soviet Union. Reagan passed away in June 2004 at the age of 93 after a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Early Life and Education

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, to John Edward “Jack” Reagan and Nelle Wilson Reagan. His father affectionately nicknamed him “Dutch” due to his stout appearance, saying he resembled “a fat little Dutchman.” Reagan had an older brother, Neil, who went by the nickname “Moon.”

The Reagan family moved frequently during Ronald’s early years before settling in Dixon, Illinois, in 1920, where Jack opened a shoe store. Raised in a Christian household, Reagan was initially part of the Disciples of Christ denomination, later becoming a Presbyterian and identifying as a “born-again Christian.” After graduating from Dixon High School in 1928, where he was an athlete, student body president, and active in school plays, Reagan worked as a lifeguard during summer vacations at Lowell Park. He gained local fame for saving 77 swimmers from drowning.

Reagan went on to attend Eureka College in Illinois on an athletic scholarship, majoring in economics and sociology. His college years were marked by athletic achievements, including playing football, captaining the swim team, and being involved in student government and theatrical productions.

Acting Career: Movies and TV Shows

In 1937, Reagan signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros., marking the start of his prolific acting career. Over the next three decades, he appeared in over 50 films. One of his most iconic roles was that of George Gipp, the Notre Dame football star, in the 1940 biopic Knute Rockne, All American. Another memorable performance came in the 1942 film Kings Row, where Reagan portrayed a man who wakes up to find his legs amputated.

During World War II, Reagan was disqualified from combat duty due to poor eyesight, but he served in the Army making training films, leaving the military with the rank of captain. From 1947 to 1952, he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. As his film career began to wane, Reagan transitioned to television, hosting The General Electric Theater from 1954 to 1962. In addition to his hosting duties, he toured the country as a public relations representative for General Electric. However, his increasingly controversial political comments led to his dismissal from the show in 1962.

Reagan’s final film appearance came in the 1964 noir film The Killers, just as his political career was about to take off.

Political Career

Reagan, now regarded as a conservative icon, began his political journey as a Democrat, proudly declaring himself a “New Dealer to the core.” However, his views evolved significantly during his time working with General Electric, where he became an outspoken critic of excessive government regulation and wasteful spending. By 1962, Reagan officially switched parties, aligning himself with the Republican Party.

His rise to national prominence began in 1964 when he delivered the influential televised speech “A Time for Choosing” in support of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. Though the speech did not secure a victory for Goldwater in his race against incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson, it positioned Reagan as a key figure in the Republican Party. Two years later, Reagan ran for governor of California and won by a landslide, defeating Democratic incumbent Edmund “Pat” Brown Sr. by nearly one million votes. He was reelected for a second term in 1970.

U.S. President

Not long after taking office as California’s governor, Reagan set his sights on the White House. He made unsuccessful attempts for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976, but remained undeterred. In 1980, Reagan secured the nomination and won the general election by a decisive margin, defeating incumbent President Jimmy Carter with 489 electoral votes to Carter’s 49, and garnering nearly 51 percent of the popular vote. At 69, Reagan became the oldest person elected to the U.S. presidency at the time.

First-Term Accomplishments and Challenges

Reagan’s inaugural address on January 20, 1981, included his famous declaration, “Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.” He set a course for national renewal, envisioning America as a beacon of freedom for the world. His presidency also brought a new era of style to the White House, with his wife, Nancy Reagan, introducing glamorous designer fashion and leading a controversial redecoration of the executive mansion.

Domestically, Reagan implemented conservative economic policies, including tax cuts designed to stimulate the economy, which was facing double-digit inflation and high unemployment. He advocated for increased military spending, reductions in certain social programs, and deregulation of business. By 1983, the economy had begun to recover, leading many economists to view the following seven years as a period of prosperity. However, critics argued that Reagan’s policies exacerbated the federal budget and trade deficits and disproportionately harmed the middle class and poor Americans.

Reagan also made history in 1981 by appointing Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, where she was sworn in that September.

The primary foreign policy challenge of his first term was the Cold War. Reagan famously referred to the Soviet Union as “the evil empire” and pursued a massive buildup of American weapons and troops. His administration implemented the Reagan Doctrine, providing support for anti-communist movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In 1983, he introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative, a plan to develop space-based systems designed to protect the United States from Soviet nuclear missiles.

In the Middle East, Reagan sent 800 U.S. Marines to Lebanon in 1982 as part of a peacekeeping force. Less than a year later, in October 1983, a terrorist attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut killed 241 Americans. Additionally, Reagan ordered the U.S. invasion of Grenada that same month, following the overthrow of the island’s government by Marxist rebels. The Reagan administration also navigated tense relations with Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Second-Term Accomplishments and Challenges

Reagan was reelected in a landslide in 1984, securing 525 of 538 electoral votes—the most ever won by a U.S. presidential candidate. He won 49 out of 50 states, an unprecedented victory.

However, his second term was marred by the Iran-Contra affair, a controversial operation in which the U.S. secretly sold arms to Iran in exchange for hostages, using the proceeds to fund anti-communist insurgencies in Central America. Initially, Reagan denied knowledge of the operation, but later admitted it was a mistake, partly at the urging of First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Despite this scandal, Reagan achieved significant diplomatic victories. He developed a strong working relationship with Soviet Chairman Mikhail Gorbachev, leading to the 1987 signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which called for the elimination of an entire class of nuclear weapons. In the same year, Reagan delivered his famous speech at the Berlin Wall, challenging Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Just over two years later, in 1989, the wall fell, and East Germany was freed from Soviet control.

Reagan returned to Berlin in 1990, just weeks before Germany’s reunification, where he symbolically struck the Berlin Wall with a hammer, marking the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe.

Assassination Attempt

Less than two months into his presidency, Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt. On March 30, 1981, as he was exiting the Washington Hilton Hotel with several of his advisers, shots rang out. Quick-thinking Secret Service agents immediately shielded the president, pushing him into his limousine. Once inside the vehicle, aides discovered that Reagan had been struck by a bullet. At the hospital, doctors confirmed that the gunman’s bullet had penetrated one of Reagan’s lungs and narrowly missed his heart. The assailant, John Hinckley Jr., was a mentally disturbed man who had become obsessed with actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley devised the plot in an attempt to gain her attention. In the process, he also shot three other individuals, all of whom, like the president, survived. Despite the trauma, Reagan returned to work just weeks after the shooting, known for his resilient spirit and good-natured humor. He later joked with his wife, “Honey, I forgot to duck.”

Wife Nancy Reagan and Children

While serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Reagan met actress Nancy Davis, who had sought his assistance after being erroneously listed as a communist sympathizer during the Hollywood blacklist era. The two were immediately drawn to one another, although Reagan was initially hesitant to marry again following his painful divorce from his first wife.

From 1940 to 1948, Reagan was married to actress Jane Wyman. During their marriage, they had a daughter, Maureen, in 1941, and adopted a son, Michael, in 1945. In 1947, their third child, Christine, was born prematurely. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum notes that it is unclear whether their second daughter was stillborn or lived for only a few hours after birth. The couple separated the following year.

In the early 1950s, Reagan began dating Nancy, who was 10 years his junior. Over time, he came to see her as his soulmate, and they married on March 4, 1952. Nancy Davis became Nancy Reagan and subsequently left her acting career to focus on raising their children. The couple appeared together in the 1956 film Hellcats of the Navy. They had two children: a daughter, Patricia, born in 1952, and a son, Ronald, born in 1958. Patricia, later known as Patti Davis, pursued a career as a writer, model, actress, and producer, publishing 13 books, including the memoir The Long Goodbye: Memories of My Father, which chronicles her relationship with her parents as Reagan faced Alzheimer’s disease. Ronald, the younger of the two, initially trained as a ballet dancer before becoming a talk show host and political commentator, supporting liberal policies. In 2011, he published My Father at 100, a personal reflection on his father’s legacy.

In 2001, Reagan experienced the heartbreaking loss of his daughter Maureen, who passed away from cancer.

Later Years

After leaving office in January 1989, Reagan and Nancy returned to their home in Los Angeles. Two years later, the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs opened in Simi Valley, California.

In 1993, Reagan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by his successor, George H.W. Bush, in recognition of his enduring contributions to both entertainment and public service. Later, in 1998, President Bill Clinton signed a bill renaming Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a tribute to the former president’s legacy. The airport is now one of the busiest in the nation, serving over 25.5 million passengers in 2023.

Death and Legacy

In November 1994, Reagan revealed in a handwritten letter to the American public that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that also affected his mother.

Nearly a decade later, on June 5, 2004, Reagan passed away at the age of 93, becoming the longest-lived president in U.S. history at the time. A state funeral was held in Washington, D.C., followed by his burial at the Reagan Presidential Library in California. His widow, Nancy, was interred beside him after her death in 2016.

Reagan is remembered as a conservative icon, having shaped the principles of modern conservatism, such as deregulation, tax cuts, and a reduced role for the federal government in addressing social issues. His legacy endures through various tributes, including a 2024 biographical film, Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan. Additionally, the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center has borne his name since 2008.