Ronald Reagan served as the 40th President of the United States, serving between 1981 to 1989. This got me thinking, what are some fascinating facts about Ronald Reagan?
Today, Ronald Reagan is remembered for his socially conservative policies, many of which are still enshrined in law today! On top of this, Reagan gave his name to Reaganomics, perhaps the most famous fiscally conservative policies ever.
15. “Dutch”?
Practically every president gets a number of nicknames, both from other politicians and from the American public. For Reagan, his most famous nickname was that of “Dutch”.
Unlike Martin Van Buren‘s very similar nickname, the nickname was not as a result of Reagan’s ancestry. Where Van Buren’s was Dutch, Reagan’s was not, instead being Irish, English and Scottish.
Instead, Reagan got his nickname of Dutch from his own family. You see, as a kid, his mother used to give him what was known as a “Dutch boy” hair cut. This cased his Dad to refer to him as “Dutch”.
The nickname of “Dutch” would stick with him throughout his acting career, and later, his political career. During the 1980’s, people did refer to Reagan informally as “Dutch”, even if they didn’t know the origins of the nickname!
14. Oldest President For Years
When Ronald Reagan was running for president, there was a serious concern about his health and fitness for office. When he was campaigning, he was well into his sixties, far older than Democrat Jimmy Carter.
People were concerned that Reagan may die in office due to old age, or that his age would make him unfit for office. Regardless, Reagan would win in 1980, being 2 weeks shy of his 70th birthday when he was inaugurated in 1981.
This made Reagan the oldest president in US history, ahead of the previous oldest president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was 70 when he left office. Reagan would hold this title for the next 35 years.
In 2016, the American people elected Donald Trump, who was almost 71 years old when he was inaugurated. Trump wouldn’t hold that title for long, when he lost to Joe Biden in 2020, who was 78 when he was inaugurated.
13. First Job
As world leaders, we always expect that they have been in public service since the very beginning, working their way up from the bottom to some of the highest offices in the world. With Reagan, this wasn’t the case.
However, Reagan’s first job was not as an actor, as you’d probably have imagined. When Reagan was a teenager, the Great Depression destroyed his family’s savings, with a young Ronald being put to work to help provide for his family.
As a teenager, Reagan would work a number of odd jobs, as the changing economic climate created and got rid of new jobs. It’s generally agreed that Reagan’s first job was as a lifeguard.
However, Reagan also worked other jobs such as janitor, manual laborer and radio broadcaster among others. His alma mater would also give him a number of different jobs, which helped him provide for his family.
12. Never Won an Oscar
Ronald Reagan is remembered (and sometimes mocked) for having been an actor before entering public office. During his time as an actor, he starred in around 60 movies and 17 TV shows.
Over this time, Reagan was nominated, and subsequently won a number of awards. By the time he began his political career, Reagan had won almost every acting award possible, with one exception: An Oscar.
According to the memoirs of some of his closest aides, this was something that annoyed him quite a bit. Apparently, Reagan believed that he would never be able to win one after he left office.
The same memoirs also allege that Reagan was rather annoyed that he never received any awards at institutional levels for his transition from entertainer to world leader!
11. One Last Movie?
Reagan would run for Governor of California in 1966. Due to this, Reagan’s acting career was effectively on pause, as he campaigned to be elected as California’s governor for the next four years.
Before running for California’s highest office, Reagan would star in one last movie, The Killers. According to Reagan years later, he expected this to be his last movie ever, although there’s no way of knowing how true that is.
The Killers would be Reagan’s final movie, and the only one where he portrayed the villain. In The Killers, Reagan would portray mob boss Jack Browning, who’s affair with teh character of Sheila sets off the entire plot!
Once Reagan retired from public office following his two terms as president, Reagan chose to retire entirely. As such, Reagan would never step foot on a movie set in any capacity after 1965.
10. President Reagan’s Jelly Beans
In the 1960’s, it became clear that smoking tobacco caused a number of health problems, most notably, lung cancer. As such, a large number of the general public began to try and kick their tobacco habit, including Ronald Reagan.
For Reagan, he found it easiest to kick his pipe smoking habit in favor of another one. Reagan found that food was the easiest way to do this, in particular, he found that candy seemed to help.
Reagan’s favorite type of candy was jelly beans, in particular, licorice-flavored jelly beans. Whilst a governor, and later, president, Reagan would continue to receive regular shipments of jelly beans for free.
After becoming president, Reagan would give permission for Goelitz Candy (who made his favorite type of jelly bean) to produce limited edition jelly beans in a case with the presidential seal on it for state occasions.
9. A… Democrat?
Today, Ronald Reagan is remembered for being arguably the most famous Republican president ever. However, at one point in time, Ronald Reagan was in fact a Democrat!
As a young actor prior to World War Two, Reagan was hugely supportive of the New Deal-era Democratic Party. Here, Reagan would profess to be a staunchly liberal Democrat, publicly idolizing then-president FDR.
Following WWII, Reagan would remain a member of the Democratic Party, although, his view began to shift. Of the course of the 1940’s and 1950’s, he would find himself shifting to the right of the Democratic Party.
By 1962, Reagan had shifted from being a conservative liberal, to being just a conservative. That same year, Reagan would become a registered Republican, before becoming the Republican Governor of California in 1967.
8. First Divorced President
In the 1940’s, the concept of a divorce was a rather strange one. Generally, it was still seen as a social taboo, and something that happened only in exceptional circumstances, and only if you were quite rich and/or famous.
By the 1980’s, divorces had become more widely accepted, with a number of different legislations begin passed to help resolve divorce-based issues. On top of this, the US elected their first divorced president.
In 1940, Reagan married fellow actress Jane Wyman, who he’d met during the filming of the Brother Rat franchise, in 1938. The couple would have two children together, as well as adopting the third.
However, the marriage wouldn’t last, and the couple would divorce in 1949. The reason cited was political differences (Wyman was a Republican, whilst Reagan was a Democrat at the time).
In 1952, Reagan would marry another actress, Nancy Davis, better known as Nancy Reagan, who would later serve as First Lady.
7. Military Career
A fact that you probably didn’t know about Ronald Reagan was that he served in the US military! Reagan broke through as an actor in the late 1930’s, starring in a number of high profile movies.
In 1941, surprising the entire world, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, effectively drawing the US into WWII. War was declared later that same year, on both Japan and Nazi Germany, with the first troops shipping out in 1942.
As with many other young men of the time, Ronald Reagan would join the US Army. However, his profile as an actor was deemed to be more useful back in the states, rather than in the Pacific or in Europe.
The Army would task Reagan, and other actors to produce a number of propaganda films to boost moral in US troops. All but one of the films Reagan produced between 1942 and 1945 were for the US Army.
Partly, thanks to these films, the US was able to help the Allies win the war!
6. International Relations
In terms of international diplomacy, Reagan’s presidency was one of the best in history. Over his eight years as president, Reagan certainly left his mark on the world, much of which we can still see today!
Perhaps the most famous example of this is the INF Treaty between the US and USSR. The treaty curtailed the number of medium range nuclear weapons each country had, paving the way for the end of the Cold War.
Reagan also strengthened US influence abroad. Nicaragua and Grenada both became American allies, after previously not being. So was Afghanistan, although this was partly done thanks to George H. W. Bush.
As with every other president, Reagan enjoyed a close relationship with the British prime minister. However, Reagan especially, would enjoy a much closer personal relationship with then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
5. National Review
Ronald Reagan had a very well documented friendship with American author, William F. Buckley Jr. In 1955, Buckley founded the National Review magazine, generally seen as one of the best conservative magazines ever published!
According to Reagan, whilst still a Democrat, he would subscribe to Buckley’s magazine. This, in part, helped catalyze Reagan’s shift from staunchly liberal Democrat, to a bulwark of conservatism.
Once Regan became a Republican in 1962, he would continue to read Buckley’s magazine. As Governor of California, Reagan would continue to read National Review, with it often influencing many of his policies.
In 1981, Reagan would become president. Here, it was well known that he kept a copy of the latest issue in his desk. Throughout his presidency, Buckley would be a close advisor to the president, as well as sharing a close personal friendship.
4. Hearing Aids
Throughout history, several presidents have had a number of rather serious health issues. Some were prevalent before they entered office, whilst many more developed during their time in office.
One of these presidents was Ronald Reagan, who had severe hearing damage sustained during his time as an actor. This caused him to be the first (and only!) sitting president to date to have worn hearing aids whilst in office.
In 1939, Ronald Reagan was starring as Secret Service agent Brass Bancroft in Code of the Secret Service. Whilst on set, a firearm was discharged next to his right ear, causing immense pain, and hearing loss later on in life.
Reagan would only begin to notice the latter during his time as president, in 1983, with him unable to hear many of his senior staffers. As such, Reagan was informed that he had to wear a hearing aid in his right ear.
This was something he did for the rest of his life.
3. Presidential Runs
It might come as a surprise, but the 1980 Presidential Election was not Reagan’s first attempt to become president. In fact, it wasn’t even his second attempt, but rather, his third attempt!
Reagan first tested the presidential water in 1968, after having been elected governor in 1966. Here, he ran against Nixon, trying to win the Republican nomination, however, came in third, behind Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller.
In 1976, Reagan would run for the Republican nomination once again. Although, this time, he would lose out to incumbent President Gerald R. Ford, by only 6% of the votes.
1980 would see Reagan run once again for the Republican nomination, where he would win it. Reagan would subsequently win the election by a large margin, and once again in 1984.
2. The Best President?
Alongside Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan is seen by most Republicans as one of the best presidents, their party ever produced. In recent years in particular, many Republican candidates have tried to emulate Reagan.
Today most Republicans rank Reagan as the second best president the US has ever had, ranked behind only George Washington. A decade ago, he ranked only third or fourth, even among Republicans.
For Democrats, Reagan is surprisingly quite popular. Most Democrats rank Reagan as the third or fourth best president ever, behind only FDR and George Washington, and occasionally Andrew Jackson.
Similarly, over the past few years, Democrats have begun to rank Reagan higher and higher. A decade ago, he was being ranked as about sixth, but now, he’s being ranked at third or fourth as said before.
1. Favorite Presidents
Practically every president in history has had at least a few presidents who they admired. For Reagan, he was a little more open about it than many recent presidents have been.
Before he became president (whilst still a Democrat), Reagan openly admired FDR and his New Deal in particular. However, following him leaving the Democrats, Reagan didn’t openly admire FDR as much.
In an interview whilst he was president, Reagan actually opened up as to which presidents where his favorite. Here, he claimed that Calvin Coolidge, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were his favorites.
According to Reagan, Coolidge was the inspiration for many of his fiscal policies. Lincoln was the inspiration for his social policies. And Washington? He was the inspiration for how Reagan acted as a president!
Which are your favorite facts about Ronald Reagan? Tell me in the comments!