Ronald Reagan

            Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6th, 1911 in a small apartment above a bank in Tampico, Ill. His father, John Reagan, was a Roman Catholic born in Ireland while his wife, Nelle Reagan, was a protestant of Scottish-English ancestry. At the age of nine, Reagan's family moved and settled in Dixon, Ill. where Ronald became known for his exploits as a lifeguard. He spent many summers as a lifeguard at Rock River. During his six-year course at Rock River, he pulled 77 struggling swimmers out of the water. .
             Reagan Later attended Eureka College, not too far away from his hometown. He majored in Economics and Sociology. While he was there, he joined the football team where he won four varsity sweaters. He was also into acting and led in many school plays. During his freshman year, he led the student body on a strike when a group of professors were fired. Soon, they were re-hired. .
             After graduating, Reagan went back to Dixon and applied for a job as manager of the sports department at a Montgomery Ward that had just opened in town. Reagan, because of his success in sports in high school and college, thought he had the job wrapped up, but was turned down. In the middle of the depression, he began traveling across the Midwest looking for a job in radio. Reagan was able to convince a radio station, which had turned down more qualified applicants, to hire him. He began working as a sports announcer for WOC, a radio station in Davenport, Iowa, and later for WHO in Des Moines. It was not long before Reagan could be heard broadcasting Big Ten football games. But his dream was to be an actor. In 1937, his dream came true. During a trip to California to cover a baseball training session, an agent from Warner Brothers studios signed him for his film debut as a radio announcer in "Love is on the Air". Over the next two decades he would appear in 53 films. Soon, in 1964, his acting career would come to an end.