William Holden was the best man at his wedding to Nancy Davis in 1952.
40th president of the United States (20 January 1981 - 20 January 1989).
A month after his death, items from the 40th president's funeral, burial and week-long public viewing were selling fast on the online auction site eBay. The company has sold 780 pieces of Reagan funeral memorabilia since June 11, 2004 for a total of $66,000. The items range from programs (sold for up to $1,525 each) from the interment at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley to gratitude cards given to mourners who visited his casket.
After his presidency he and Nancy Davis moved to 666 St. Cloud Road in Bel Air, California which Ronald lived in until his death. Nancy had the address changed from 666 to 668 due to the fact 666 is known as the devil's number. The house is down the street from 805 St. Cloud Road, the house used in the TV show "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1990).
Although he was 30 when the United States entered World War II, he volunteered for military service. He was turned down for combat duty due to his poor eyesight.
Although Reagan advertised cigarettes during his time in Hollywood, he is believed never to have taken up the habit in real life. Some early photographs show him holding a pipe, but it never seems to have been lit. In later life he was very anti-smoking, especially since his best friend Robert Taylor died of lung cancer at the age of 57, and his older brother Neil Reagan lost a vocal chord in cancer surgery.
Although Reagan did not formally become a Republican until 1962, he never endorsed a Democrat after Helen Gahagan 1950 and voted for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. He also actively campaigned for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election.
Amidst the panic at the hospital after Reagan's assassination attempt, a Secret Service agent was asked information for Reagan's admission forms. The intern asked for Reagan's last name. The agent, who was quite surprised at the question, responded "Reagan". The intern then asked for Reagan's first name. The agent, again surprised, responded "Ronald". The intern didn't look up, instead he unassumingly asked for Reagan's address. The agent paused for a few moments in great surprise before saying "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue". That got the intern's attention.
As a child, Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, hated political talk so much that whenever politics came up at the dinner table she would deliberately fall out of her seat. This always changed the topic.
As Captain in the U.S. Army, Reagan signed Major Clark Gable's discharge papers in June 1944.
At the time of his death, he was the longest-living President of the United States, at age 93 years and 120 days, equaling 34,088 days. This record was broken by former President Gerald Ford on Monday, November 12th, 2006. Their age difference, in days alone, was only 45 days. Ronald Reagan's lifetime lasted 34,088 days, and Gerald Ford's lifetime lasted 34,133 days. Only 45 days differ in the two oldest Presidents' lifetimes.
Awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal for ending the "Cold War" against Russia, along with his wife Nancy Davis, for fighting substance abuse among American youths. [May 16th 2002]
Became the first president to have a state funeral in Washington, D.C. since Lyndon Johnson in 1973.
Because of his battle with Alzheimer's disease, he was unaware that his daughter Maureen had died. Wife Nancy understandably chose not to tell him.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 446-452. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
Continued to play golf with several friends including Bob Hope and Kevin Costner until 1996.
Daughter, with first wife - actress Jane Wyman - Maureen Reagan died on Wednesday, August 8th, 2001, of malignant melanoma (skin cancer) at her Sacramento, California area home.
During the 1980 Presidential campaign, incumbent President Jimmy Carter publicly criticized Reagan for launching his campaign with a speech on states' rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site of the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers immortalized in the film Mississippi Burning (1988). Carter, a former governor of the Deep South state of Georgia who had run as a racial moderate in 1970, claimed that the phrase 'states' rights' was a 'code word' for segregation, as Southerners opposed to federally mandated segregation claimed that federal intervention into the local laws and mores of their states by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were unconstitutional abrogations of the rights of their states to police themselves. Reagan, who had used his opposition to state equal housing laws to defeat Governor Edmund G. Brown in 1965, disavowed any racist intent and the issue was ignored by most voters and pundits. When Carter persisted in trying to portray the affable Reagan as a racist, the strategy boomeranged against the incumbent President and made him seem petty and petulant.
Emceed the first PATSY Awards show (1951) where Francis the Talking Mule was the very first winner. PATSY is an acronym for: Picture Animal Top Star of the Year.