Ronald reagan when was president

Also on the foreign affairs front, Reagan sent U. Marines to Lebanon as part of an international peacekeeping force after Israel invaded that nation in June In October , suicide bombers attacked the Marine barracks in Beirut, killing Americans. That same month, Reagan ordered U. In addition to the problems in Lebanon and Grenada, the Reagan administration had to deal with an ongoing contentious relationship between the United States and Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi During his second term, Reagan forged a diplomatic relationship with the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev , who became leader of the Soviet Union in In , the Americans and Soviets signed a historic agreement to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

Twenty-nine months later, Gorbachev allowed the people of Berlin to dismantle the wall. After leaving the White House, Reagan returned to Germany in September —just weeks before Germany was officially reunified—and took several symbolic swings with a hammer at a remaining chunk of the wall. In November , Ronald Reagan was reelected in a landslide, defeating Walter Mondale and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro , the first female vice-presidential candidate from a major U.

Reagan was given a state funeral in Washington, D. Nancy Reagan died of heart failure in at age 94 and was buried alongside her husband. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Nancy Reagan was an American first lady , the wife of Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States, and actress, noted for her efforts to discourage drug use by American youths.

On the second day of the highly contested Republican National Convention, it was still far from clear which candidate the party delegates intended to choose: sitting president Gerald Ford or his challenger, former actor and California governor Ronald Reagan. Amidst this Elected in as the 35th president of the United States, year-old John F. Kennedy became one of the youngest U.

Harry S. Truman , the 33rd U. In the White House from to , Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan, helped rebuild postwar Europe, worked to Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught lawyer, legislator and vocal opponent of slavery, was elected 16th president of the United States in November , shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Lincoln proved to be a shrewd military strategist and a savvy leader: His Emancipation One time he made a speech that was not his best. As great a speaker as he was, and as inspiring as his spoken visions could be, Ronald Reagan was equally happy telling a joke to a small group in a social situation.

He would be quite animated, and always laughed heartily at the punch line — eyebrows raised, eyes crinkled, head back -- his wide smile lighting up the room. Maybe it was the Hollywood part of him that made him feel good about having made his audience laugh. And he was not afraid to laugh at himself. He even found ways to be friends with political adversaries. But rather than get angry or carry a grudge, the President invented a rule that Tip could say whatever he wanted during the day, but at 6 PM, the politics would stop and they would be friends.

It was why he never viewed life as a burden. On the contrary, he enjoyed it. He smiled easily and often. He took his responsibilities, but not himself, seriously. He rarely raised his voice or gave in to anger. Oh, he could get annoyed from time to time, but it was almost always because he was behind schedule and people were kept waiting for him. He never thought of himself as better or more important than anyone else. One day he was running late for a haircut appointment and grumbled about it to a nearby aide.

Reagan started eating jelly beans in as he was trying to quit a pipe-smoking habit. He switched to Jelly Bellies a decade later. This is according to the Reagan Library website. The name came from his childhood haircut, among other things. However, The Killers was considered too violent for TV, and released to movie theaters instead.

The future President lost partial hearing in one ear when he was hurt on a movie set in the late s after a gun was fired next to his ear. Reagan officially became a Republican in , but he had grown more conservative during the s as he toured as a General Electric spokesman.

The urban legend over the issue is documented on snopes.