Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004) was the fortieth president of the United States, serving two terms in office. During his presidency, his unwavering optimism and belief in the future slowly infected the whole nation, as the economy improved and the Cold War ended. He died June 5, 2004 at the age of ninety-three, after suffering with Alzheimer's for ten years.
In 1998, ten years after Reagan left office, PBS created a television movie and this companion website. The timeline and photo gallery are nice, but the best clicks are found in Special Features and People & Events. Visit Special Features for a virtual tour of the Reagan library, excerpts from two Reagan biographies, and a collection of quotes. Visit People & Events for articles on five people who touched Reagan's life (such as Gorbechev and Hinkley) and three challenges from his presidency (including the 1982 recession and the Iran-Contra affair.)
This CNN retrospective covers Reagan's life and death with new material as well as links to archived articles. The two-page biography is good, the Reagan trivia slide-show is fun, and the speech archive's an excellent resource for school reports. The audio clips are free, but the video clips require a paid subscription. Because the archived articles don't link back to the Reagan front page, it's easy to get lost. Use your back button, or browser history to find your way home again.
The kids section of the Ronald Reagan Library is a great K-8 resource for short presidential bios (look in Presidential Stuff or Birthday Cake) and fast facts about the fifty states (Where in America?). Kids' Kabinet links to the grownup Reagan Library site (click on Ronald Reagan in the lower horizontal menu) where you'll find bios for both Ronald and Nancy Reagan, along with an extensive photo gallery, speech transcripts and a collection of Reagan quotes. "Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" June 12, 1987
Although the articles that appeared in the June 14, 2004 commemorative issue of TIME Magazine are now archived for paying subscribers only, the three photo essays are open to all. "Reagan Remembered" presents his life in ten slides. "Making the Gipper" summarizes Reagan's Hollywood career with six promo shots from the studios. "A Man for His Times" presents highlights from his White House years in just five photos. For magazine subscribers who misplaced their print issue, the archive is excellent and worth visiting.
I like this detailed, illustrated Reagan biography from Wikipedia because the hyperlinks to other Wikipedia articles make it easy to learn more about Reaganomics, the Cold War, the Strategic Defense Initiative ("dubbed 'Star Wars' by opponents") and other related topics. Wikipedia is an open-content project, whose encyclopedia articles are contributed and edited by anyone who wants to. As part of this group editorial process, at least one reader disputed the neutrality of this Reagan biography. What do you think? Does this Wikipedia article show an obvious bias?
Buy Ronald Reagan Printable for $2.00
or try a FREE trial of the Printables ClubThe following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Reagan Foundation: Ronald ReaganRonaldReagan.com | Ronald Reagan MemorialWhite House: Biography of Ronald Reagan |
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