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N0KFQ > TODAY 20.01.17 15:04l 68 Lines 3186 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 19814_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 20
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<GB7CIP<N0KFQ
Sent: 170120/1258Z 19814@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1981
Ronald Reagan becomes president
Ronald Reagan, former Western movie actor and host of
television's popular "Death Valley Days" is sworn in as the 40th
president of the United States.
More than any president since the Texas-born Lyndon Johnson,
Ronald Reagan's public image was closely tied to the American
West, although he was raised in the solidly Midwestern state of
Illinois. In the 1930s, Reagan moved to California, where he
became a moderately successful Hollywood actor. Thereafter, he
always considered himself a true westerner in spirit.
Reagan's image as a westerner was reinforced by his acting
career. Although he acted in other genres as well, many of
Reagan's movies were B-grade Westerns like "Law and Order," in
which he played a sheriff who was the only law "from Dodge City
to Tombstone!" When his movie career waned, Reagan made the
transition to television as a host of the hugely popular showcase
for western stories, "Death Valley Days."
Reagan's film and TV career not only won him public-name
recognition but also helped establish his enduring "good-guy"
reputation. A few of Reagan's roles in non-western movies
included men of questionable character, but in Westerns he
usually played the brave and wholesome sheriff or cowboy who
killed the outlaws, saved the school marm, and brought justice to
the Wild West. Though it is difficult to estimate exactly how
important such positive roles were for his subsequent political
career, surely Reagan's "white hat" movie image helped win him
some confidence and votes.
Reagan's politics also increasingly reflected the mythic western
image of rugged independence and self-reliance. Although he had
been a liberal New Deal Democrat as a young man, by the 1950s,
Reagan had become a hard-line conservative. As president of the
Screen Actor's Guild (1947-52, 1959-60), he won national
attention as an outspoken anticommunist, and he began to view
even the mild federal socialism of the New Deal as destructive to
individual initiative and freedom. Switching his allegiance to
the Republican Party, Reagan won two terms as governor of
California (1967-75), where he gained a devoted national
following that helped him win the presidency.
During his eight years as president of the United States
(1981-89), Reagan redefined the center in American politics,
moving it away from the liberal Democrats and towards the
conservative Republicans. Though his days as a western movie star
were long past by then, Reagan continued to celebrate the mythic
independence of the western pioneer as a parallel to modern
conservatism. To drive home the point, Reagan made frequent and
highly visible retreats to his California ranch, where he rode
horses, fixed fences, and cut firewood for the TV cameras. This
president, Reagan's actions seemed to say, was a self-reliant
cowboy at heart and only a reluctant politician.
After a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease, Ronald Reagan
died on June 5, 2004. He was buried at the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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