Ronald Reagan began as a radio sports announcer before entering Hollywood in 1937. His films included Knute Rockne, All American and Kings Row, and during the Second World War he made military training films. As president of the Screen Actors Guild he became involved in labor disputes and anticommunist politics. Hosting General Electric Theater and speaking for the company widened his national audience. Originally a Democrat, he moved toward conservatism and became a Republican in 1962.

Reagan's televised speech supporting Barry Goldwater in 1964 established him as a prominent political spokesman. Elected governor of California in 1966 and reelected in 1970, he confronted student protests, expanded state government spending despite limited-government rhetoric, and approved both tax increases and welfare changes. After unsuccessful efforts to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976, he defeated Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election.

As president from 1981 to 1989, Reagan combined tax reductions, deregulation, increased defense spending, and criticism of federal domestic programs. His administration dismissed striking air traffic controllers that summer. After a severe recession, economic growth and falling inflation strengthened his position, although deficits and inequality increased. The 1986 tax reform broadened the tax base and lowered rates; another major law offered legalization to some undocumented immigrants while penalizing employers who hired unauthorized workers.

Reagan initially intensified confrontation with the Soviet Union and proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative. Later negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev produced the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, eliminating an entire category of nuclear missiles. United States support for anticommunist movements also involved intervention and controversy in Central America. The Iran-Contra scandal revealed secret arms sales to Iran and efforts to fund the Nicaraguan Contras despite congressional restrictions, damaging confidence in his administration's oversight.

His presidency appointed conservative judges and shifted Republican politics toward lower taxes and a stronger national defense. Its record also included a slow response to the AIDS epidemic and criticism of civil rights policies. Reagan left office in 1989 and announced an Alzheimer's diagnosis in 1994. He died in 2004.