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There was an assassination attempt while Reagan was in office.
In November 1984, Ronald Reagan was reelected in a landslide. Reagan carried 49 of the 50 U.S. states in the election, and received 525 of 538 electoral votes—the largest number ever won by an American presidential candidate.
During his second term, Reagan also forged a diplomatic relationship with the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev, chairman of the Soviet Union. In 1987, the Americans and Soviets signed a historic agreement to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
That same year, Reagan spoke at Germany's Berlin Wall, a symbol of communism, and famously challenged Gorbachev to tear it down. More than two years later, Gorbachev allowed the people of Berlin to dismantle the wall, ending Soviet domination of East Germany. After leaving the White House,
Reagan returned to Germany in September 1990—just weeks before the country was officially reunified—and, with a hammer, took several symbolic swings at a remaining chunk of the wall.
Interesting Facts:
• American hostages held in Iran for more than a year were finally released on the day of Reagan’s inauguration. They were on a plane out of Iran just minutes after he was inaugurated.
• In 1980, not only did Reagan win the election but the Republicans took the majority in the Senate for the first time since 1952.
• There was an attempted assassination on Reagan in 1981. He was shot in the chest, but he fully recovered. In 1985 Reagan experienced another life-threatening battle, this time with colon cancer. He recovered rapidly again.
• His first job was as a lifeguard. He used money from that job and a partial scholarship to put himself through college. After college, he worked as a sports announcer. After that, he was a famous actor!
• Both of Reagan’s presidential election victories were landslides.
• Ronald Reagan was the first former film star to become president. He appeared in more than fifty feature films and several television shows.
• Reagan was the oldest man elected president.He was 69 at the time.
• He was the first to appoint a woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, to the Supreme Court.
• In 1994, he became the first former president to publicly announce a personal battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
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Comment on the blog:
What fact about Ronald Reagan did you find the most interesting?
Comment on the blog:
What fact about Ronald Reagan did you find the most interesting?
Ronald Reagan started out in radio and role acting, and actually won a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers in 1937! He also became a famous movie and television actor and "He is credited with 53 different acting roles in his television and movie/career" and I find this so cool!
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was interesting that Ronald Reagan carried 49 out of 50 states in the election and eceived 525 of 538 electoral votes.
ReplyDeleteI find it cool that he was the first famous film star to become president.
ReplyDeleteI found interesting that he was the oldest man to become president 69
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that his first job was as a lifeguard and that he used money from that job and a partial scholarship to put himself through college.
ReplyDeleteA cool thing that no one has said is that he appointed Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court, the first woman. She is 86 years old today and she retired in 2006.
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ReplyDeleteI think it's really cool that when Ronald Reagan was about to be assassinated, one of his Secret Service Men stepped in front of him and he instead took the bullet. He put his life in danger for him!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was pretty awesome that one of the Secret Service Men literally took a bullet for the president. I wonder if the guy survived?
DeleteHe survived.
DeleteWhat I found interesting is that Ronald Reagan battled with a bullet and cancer. He survived both!
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that Ronald Reagan was an actor!
ReplyDeleteI found the fact that he worked as a sports announcer!
ReplyDeleteRonald Reagan is one of my favorite Presidents
It’s the same for me. Ronald Reagan is my all time favorite!
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