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A Time for Choosing
Reagan made the speech A Time for Choosing in 1964 in support of presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. This speech marks the beginning of Reagan's political career. -
An American Life
Reagan published his second autobiography, An American Life, in 1990. This autobiography focuses primarily on his political career. -
Boland Amendment
Congress passed the Boland Amendment in 1982 to prohibit the United States (primarily the Reagan administration) from assisting the Contras in Nicaragua. -
CSU
The CSU, or the Conference of Studio Unions, was a growing umbrella organization for various labor unions representing members within the motion picture industry in the 1940s. Reagan strongly opposed the CSU because he believed the organization was a front for Soviet Communists trying to take over Hollywood. -
Detente
Detente was Nixon's and Ford's attempt to reduce tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
Disciples of Christ
The Disciples of Christ were a Protestant religious organization of which Ronald Reagan was a member while living in Dixon, during his Eureka College days, and while in Hollywood. The organization was noted for its conservatism. -
Dixon
Dixon, Illinois, was Ronald Reagan's home from the time he was eleven until he graduated high school. Reagan himself characterized the town as small, but friendly and supportive. Living in Dixon, Reagan could hunt, fish, hike, and eventually play football and swim for his high school teams. -
Eureka College
Reagan attended Eureka College in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He graduated in 1932 with degrees in economics and sociology. In college he was also president of the student body and several student organizations, a popular political leader, and prominent member on the football and swimming teams. -
First Motion Picture Unit
Reagan served in the First Motion Picture Unit from 1942 until 1946. The FMPU was a branch of the Army Air Intelligence department and based at Fort Roach. While a lieutenant in the Army, Reagan produced many training films for American pilots and also handled much of the war footage. He was also among the first Americans to ever see confiscated Nazi footage of the Holocaust. -
Fort Roach
Fort Roach was a movie production studio in Los Angeles, California, that the US Army took over during World War II in order to produce training films for American servicemen. Reagan, serving in the First Motion Picture Unit helped recruit prominent people in Hollywood to help the military, and also starred in and narrated many of the films. -
General Electric Theater
Reagan starred in the TV show General Electric Theater during the 1950s. -
Grenada
President Reagan sent 10,000 US Army Rangers to invade and occupy the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1983 to fight Communist insurgents. -
House Un-American Activities Committee
This committee within the House of Representatives was established during the Red Scare to investigate suspected Communists in the United States. -
Iran
Iran was one of the US's worst enemies during the late 1970s and through the 1980s. Under the Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran held over 200 Americans hostage for 444 days between 1979 and 1981. This hostage crisis actually helped Reagan defeat Carter in 1980. The Reagan administration later illegally sold arms with Iran for the release of 52 hostages held by Iranian agents in Lebanon in the Iran-Contra scandal. -
Iran-Contra scandal
In the Iran-Contra scandal, the Reagan administration illegally sold arms with Iran for the release of fifty-two hostages held by Iranian agents in Lebanon. The proceeds of the sale were then used to illegally assist the Contras in Nicaragua to fight the Communist Sandinistas. -
King's Row
Reagan's 1941 film King's Row brought the young actor even more fame than had Knute Rockne, All American. His greatest scene appeared in this film when his character wakes up in a hospital only to discover that his legs have been amputated. Shocked and scared he shouts, "Where's the rest of me?" Reagan's emotional portrayal of the character almost won him an Academy Award. -
Knute Rockne, All American
The 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American was the movie that pushed Ronald Reagan into stardom. Although he was only a supporting actor in the film, critics and audiences alike loved his portrayal of Notre Dame's star football player George Gipp. -
MCA
Reagan's entertainment agency, MCA, eventually entered the television production business in the 1950s, and Reagan used his position as president of the Screen Actors Guild to secure special rights for MCA. The government investigated Reagan and MCA in the 1960s to determine whether or not the actor and the company engaged in any unfair business practices; however, no indictments were issued. -
Nicaragua
The Reagan administration assisted the Nicaraguan Contras in their fight against the Communist Sandinistas throughout both of Reagan's terms in office. When Congress passed the Boland Amendment prohibiting the US from assisting the Contras any further, Reagan secretly continued helping them anyway. Reagan's illegal assistance was eventually exposed in the Iran-Contra scandal. -
People's Park
The People's Park was a parking lot overtaken by rioting students at the University of California at Berkeley in 1969. To end the violent rioters, Reagan authorized the National Guard to forcefully occupy the campus. Many students were injured and one student was killed in the battle. -
SALT
SALT, or Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, were agreements made by Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter with leaders of the Soviet Union to reduce the build-up of nuclear weapons in both countries. -
Screen Actors Guild
Reagan served as on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild for several years before being elected president of the organization in 1946. He served five consecutive terms as president of the Guild until 1960. The Guild originally existed primarily to protect the interests and careers of newer actors, but under Reagan came to be a strong, anti-Communist organization. -
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (1917–1991) or USSR was a union of socialist-communist states dominated by what the country that is today known as Russia. The USSR and the US were involved in a Cold War between the years 1945 until the USSR's collapse in 1991. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or Star Wars, was Reagan's plan to develop a missile defense system over the US to shield the country from any incoming enemy missiles. The project cost $1 trillion dollars, but was never actually completed. -
voodoo economics
George Bush coined the phrase "voodoo economics" in critique of Reagan's economic plans, which were based on supply-side economic theory. -
WHO
The WHO radio station in Des Moines Iowa took Reagan on as announcer when it merged with its sister station WOC. They promoted Reagan to covering Chicago Cubs baseball games. Through radio, young Dutch Reagan became famous throughout the Midwest. -
Window of vulnerability
Reagan coined this phrase to refer to the moment in time when he felt the Soviet Union would be able to wipe out US nuclear weapons capabilities in a single pre-emptive first strike attack. -
WOC
The WOC radio station hired Reagan as a radio announcer in 1932 to cover University of Iowa football games. They eventually promoted him to full time announcer when they realized how skilled Reagan was on the air. Within a few years of hiring Reagan, the WOC merged with its sister station WHO. -
Cold War
The United States fought the Cold War with the Soviet Union from 1945 until the USSR's collapse in 1991. It is referred to as a "cold war" because the two countries never actually fought each other with weapons as they would have in a "hot war". Instead, these two countries stockpiled conventional and nuclear weapons to outgun the other in the event that war did break out between them.
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Crash of 1987
The stock market crash of 1987 was one of the worst crashes since the 1929 crash that instigated the Depression. Many believe the 1987 crash was caused by Reagan's voodoo economics.
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Depression
The economic Depression of the 1930s marked one of the nation's worst periods in history. Approximately twenty-five percent of Americans were out of work, putting many families in abject poverty. See The Great Depression (1929–1941).
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Holocaust
The Holocaust refers to the Nazi program to exterminate Jews as well as other minority groups in Europe. Millions died horrific deaths during the Holocaust while in Nazi concentration camps. See World War II (1939–1945).
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Pearl Harbor
On December seven, 1941, Japanese Imperial forces launched a massive air raid on the US Naval facility in Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dozens of US Navy ships were sunk, and thousands of American servicemen died. The attack prompted Franklin Roosevelt and Congress to declare war on Japan and enter the fray of World War II.
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Red Scare
The Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s was a time when Americans were fiercely feared that Communists were trying to infiltrate the United States. Although some of the fears were justified, many historians now believe that no serious Communist threats existed. Many Americans were wrongfully accused and sentenced for being Communists during these years.
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Vietnam War
Although the US never officially declared war on Vietnam, thousands of American servicemen died in the 1960s and 1970s fighting Communist Vietnamese forces. See Vietnam War.
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World War II
See World War II (1939–1945)
