<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Ronald Wilson Reagan (/ ˈreɪɡən /; February 6, 1911--June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 . Before his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, after a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader . </P> <P> Raised in a poor family in small towns of northern Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a sports announcer on several regional radio stations . After moving to Hollywood in 1937, he became an actor and starred in a few major productions . Reagan was twice elected President of the Screen Actors Guild--the labor union for actors--where he worked to root out Communist influence . In the 1950s, he moved into television and was a motivational speaker at General Electric factories . Reagan had always been a Democrat until 1962 when he became a conservative and switched to the Republican Party . In 1964, Reagan's speech, "A Time for Choosing", supported Barry Goldwater's foundering presidential campaign and earned him national attention as a new conservative spokesman . Building a network of supporters, he was elected Governor of California in 1966 . As governor, Reagan raised taxes, turned a state budget deficit to a surplus, challenged the protesters at the University of California, ordered National Guard troops in during a period of protest movements in 1969, and was re-elected in 1970 . He twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency in 1968 and 1976; four years later, he easily won the nomination outright, becoming the oldest elected U.S. president up to that time, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980 . </P>

40th president of the united states of america