Early Life

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in an apartment on the second floor of a commercial building in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911. He was the younger son of Nelle Clyde (née Wilson) and John Edward "Jack" Reagan. Jack was a salesman and storyteller whose grandparents were Irish Catholic immigrants from County Tipperary, while Nelle was of half English and half Scottish descent (her mother was born in Surrey). Reagan's older brother, John Neil Reagan (1908–1996), became an advertising executive.

Reagan's father nicknamed his son "Dutch", due to his "fat little Dutchman"-like appearance and "Dutchboy" haircut; the nickname stuck with him throughout his youth. Reagan's family briefly lived in several towns and cities in Illinois, including Monmouth, Galesburg, and Chicago. In 1919, they returned to Tampico and lived above the H. C. Pitney Variety Store until finally settling in Dixon. After his election as president, Reagan resided in the upstairs White House private quarters, and he would quip that he was "living above the store again".

According to Paul Kengor, author of God and Ronald Reagan, Reagan had a particularly strong faith in the goodness of people; this faith stemmed from the optimistic faith of his mother and the Disciples of Christ faith, into which he was baptized in 1922. For the time, Reagan's opposition to racial discrimination was unusual. He recalled the time in Dixon when the proprietor of a local inn would not allow black people to stay there, and he brought them back to his house. His mother invited them to stay overnight and have breakfast the next morning. After the closure of the Pitney Store in late 1920 and the family's move to Dixon, the midwestern "small universe" had a lasting impression on Reagan.

Education

Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting, sports, and storytelling. His first job involved lifeguarding at the Rock River in Lowell Park in 1927. Over a six-year period, Reagan reportedly performed 77 rescues as a lifeguard. He attended Eureka College, a Disciples-oriented liberal arts school, where he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, a cheerleader, and studied economics and sociology. While involved, the Miller Center of Public Affairs described him as an "indifferent student". He majored in economics and sociology, and graduated with a C grade. He developed a reputation as a "jack of all trades", excelling in campus politics, sports, and theater. He was a member of the football team and captain of the swim team. He was elected student body president and led a student revolt against the college president after the president tried to cut back the faculty.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.