Ronald Reagan was the fortieth president of the United States, 1981-1989, who implemented a series of policies that led to the end of the Cold War. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, and graduated from Eureka College in 1932. He had a film career that spanned nearly 30 years and 50 movies. In 1962, Reagan joined the Republican Party because of opposition to the social programs and national security policies of the Democratic Party. Elected governor of California in 1966, he was dubbed the "Great Communicator" due to his speaking proficiency and ability to elucidate grand themes in a way that resonated with the American people.

In 1980, Reagan was elected president of the United States, based on a campaign that emphasized stronger national defense, as well as tax cuts and economic reforms. Following an assassination attempt in 1981, Reagan was able to get most of his tax and economic proposals ratified by Congress. His domestic economic program, known as "Reaganomics," was based on supply-side theories, which emphasized the need to increase capital among the wealthy in order to spur investment and job creation. Reagan's tax cuts and reform of the tax system prompted a sustained period of economic growth in the United States. However, the national debt increased dramatically as Reagan substantially bolstered defense spending. He was reelected by a large margin in 1984.

Reagan was a staunch anticommunist who sought to reinvigorate the Cold War struggle. The Reagan Doctrine emphasized the need to compete with the Soviet Union on all levels and to not only contain the Soviets but also attempt to reverse their gains from the 1970s. The United States launched new covert programs to undermine pro-Soviet regimes around the globe. U.S. aid was increased to anti-Soviet forces in struggles such as the Angolan Conflict and the Afghan insurgency, as well as to anti-Soviet governments such as Manuel Noriega's in Panama. Washington also initiated new weapons programs, notably the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a space-based antimissile system. SDI spurred Soviet efforts to develop a similar system. Reagan deployed U.S. forces to overthrow a Marxist regime in Grenada following a coup, in the first major U.S. combat operation since the Vietnam War.

The president maintained a bipartisan consensus on foreign and security policy, despite controversy over American aid to the anticommunist Contra rebel group in Nicaragua. The administration secretly funneled aid to the Contras in a scheme that would become known as the Iran-Contra Scandal: The United States supplied weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages (the Lebanon Hostage Crisis) and used the funds from those sales to arm the Contras. Nonetheless, Congress remained generally supportive of Reagan's defense policies, especially the military buildup, although after his selection as house Speaker in 1987, Democrat James C. Wright clashed with Reagan over foreign policy in Latin America.

Reagan formed a close partnership with allied leaders such as Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain, M. Brian Mulroney of Canada, and Helmut Kohl of the Federal Republic of Germany. The president's renewed aggressiveness forced successive leaders in Moscow to increase Soviet defense spending. In 1985, Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev realized that his country could no longer keep pace with the United States and proposed a series of arms control agreements. That year, negotiations were restarted on the first of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START I and II). Although tensions between the two superpowers were reduced in the remaining years of Reagan's presidency, U.S. military competition with the Soviet Union prompted Gorbachev to attempt to accelerate reforms. The Cold War would formally end under Reagan's vice president and successor, George H. W. Bush. Reagan left office as one of the most popular American presidents in the 20th century. He died on 5 June 2004.

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