Ronald Reagan Birthday: Facts That May Surprise You About The Former President (PHOTOS)

With the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth, buzz is swirling about the legacy left by the conservative icon and former film star. Below, a slideshow highlighting nine things you may not know about the former president.

(Click here for a rundown on some of the most memorable quotes spoken by the 40th president of the United States.)

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Ronald Reagan did not enter the world of politics until the age of 50 years old, and his first campaign was for governor of California in 1966. He was wildly popular in his home state and on election day emerged triumphant over Democrat Edmund "Pat" Brown by a margin of nearly one million votes.

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Ronald Reagan did not enter the world of politics until the age of 50 years old, and his first campaign was for governor of California in 1966. He was wildly popular in his home state and on election day emerged triumphant over Democrat Edmund "Pat" Brown by a margin of nearly one million votes.

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Comments

[TheFishisBack]

01:06 PM on 04/07/2011

The Liberals will never have a President as classy and honest as Mr. Reagan was.

[thoof]

01:49 PM on 02/10/2011

Actually, his last film appearance was in 'The Killers', with John Cassavetes, Lee Marvin, and Angie Dickinson in 1964, directed by Don Siegel ('Dirty Harry').

[big-bad-wolf]

11:20 PM on 02/08/2011

I'm surprised that you didn't point out, in the caption to photo # 5, that the co-star shown is Nancy Davis, later Mrs. Ronald Reagan.

[Quasi-Stellar Object]

09:19 AM on 02/08/2011

Here's a fact: Ronald Reagan's indifference and inaction made AIDS the worldwide pandemic it is today.

[Ellen Crescenta]

09:47 AM on 02/08/2011

TODAY, HIV in Africa, Eastern Europe and the rise of HIV infection rates in the west, including the US, where rates of new infection have now reached alarmingly high levels has absolutley NOTHING to do with Reagan and what happened OVER 35 years ago.

Many factors are at play, to dismiss it all on a man who is dead is irresponsible and ignorant.

Try doing the research and understanding the variables before loudly trumpeting your nonsense and passing the buck.

[pinkibus]

08:29 AM on 02/08/2011

Ronald Reagan - A B actor all his life. The man who was the first to turn America into a debtor nation instead of a creditor nation. The man who wouldd not say AIDS for four years and allowed the disease to spead. Ronald Reagan the lousy father, the president who had Alzheimer's and the man who was given credit for the fall of the USSR though the accident at Chernobyl was the last brick to be removed from the wall in Berlin. Ronald Reagan - good on television as a face and good at letting others run the country.

[Hoodoo X]

09:31 AM on 02/08/2011

"and allowed the disease to spead"
Yea.
You know, except for blood transfusions, AIDS is completely avoidable.  You get AIDS only through your own behavior.
Get half a clue.

[REcycled]

12:08 PM on 02/08/2011

"...except for blood transfusio­ns, AIDS is completely avoidable. You get AIDS only through your own behavior."

And under Reagan, that little bit of important information was kept secret.

[pinkibus]

01:10 PM on 02/08/2011

Hoodoo X - I guess you didn't realize babies are born with AUDS. I have trouble thinking of anything they did to deserve it. And wives also got AIDS. They didn't know their husbands were fooling around. Silly women. They should have just said no to their husbands. I could go on but hopefully you will get a clue. And don't forget - wash your hands after petting a pet or after being out in public or going to the toilet. People get sick because of what other people fail to do.

[SpreadthePanic]

08:23 AM on 02/08/2011

It seems as if a lot of people mention party-switching in the 1960s as if it was a switch from Liberal to Conservative or vice versa.

From the civil war up until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the south was solidly Democratic. However, on the issue of civil rights, these southern Democrats differed greatly from their northern counterparts. Northern state democratic Senators passed the bill 45-1, southern state democratic Senators voted against it 1-20. (145-9 / 7-87 in the house)

When the CRA passed, southern Democrats (also known as Dixiecrats) left the party in droves to join the GOP, which employed the well-known "southern strategy" to use anti-African American rhetoric to influence southern white voters.

With this in mind, when Reagan says the Democratic Party left him, it means that he did not support the civil rights movement.

[ScreenName05]

02:18 PM on 02/08/2011

Raygun was neither in the South nor the North - he was in California, and his switch didn't have anything to do with the Civil Rights era politics that threw many southerners into the Republican party to avoid supporting integration. His change was primarily based on California tax laws and supporting the movie industry and oil industry in their attempts to avoid state taxes. Something that led Raygun down the road of tax changes in California that resulted in the current California deficit, and underfunding and destroying the California school system.

[SpreadthePanic]

02:47 PM on 02/08/2011

You make some good points. I'm not convinced that his switch has nothing to do with the Civil Rights Act (direct quote: "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so"), but I agree that there were probably other factors that play a significant role. This is not so different from Barry Goldwater, who also was in a state that doesn't fit the traditional north/south model (Arizona).

My point was more that we cannot take the liberal/conservative dichotomy that is used to distinguish the two parties and assume that model fits on the two parties throughout history.

[yellowdoggie]

07:18 AM on 02/08/2011

Who, exactly, is supposed to be surprised by these "surprising" facts? And by the way, where is the fact that he was an underwear model? That is not surprising, either. Sheesh.

[Eric Daniels]

01:21 AM on 02/08/2011

I remember Ronald Wilson Reagan's race-baiting antics ( 666 amongst many African- Americans) he was wildly unpopular during his Presidency and many of us were NOT SAD when he got shot in 1981 and when he died many African- Americans did not attend the 'great communicator's' funeral so that ought to tell you something about the relationship he had with the Black Community. He opposed the 1964 Civil Rights and any redress of grievances that African- Americans had towards the U.S. Government. All this revisionist history of Reagan is Conservative propaganda at it's worst.

[tttony]

11:53 PM on 02/07/2011

Uh oh, Toto. I don't think we're in Kansas any more.

[ginger42]

09:20 PM on 02/07/2011

The start of the downfall of our country then another Bush and Bush to accelerate it. Thankfully we have Clinton and Obama to stem the tide

[AlexNYC]

07:01 PM on 02/07/2011

Reagan was a liberal democrat until he met Nancy. Then he became a conservative right wing corporatist. The rest is history.

[dnb310]

05:44 PM on 02/07/2011

He declared war on the poor and the sick, he propped up right wing murderous dictatorships, and started the cult of deregulation which has led directly to the current economic depression.

He also had NOTHING to do with the fall of communism in europe. That was accomplished by the people.

He was an embarrassment then, and still is today.

[RobertFromMN]

02:21 AM on 02/08/2011

What do you mean he had nothing to do with the fall of communism?! Haven't you heard the famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" quote?! If that didn't bloody well put an end to communism, I don't know what did!!
(BTW, not really "communism".)
I rank Reagan as the third worst president of the 20th century.

[dnb310]

04:32 AM on 02/08/2011

The wall was going to come down any way, the will of the people of East Germany could no longer be suppressed. It wasn't Gorbachev who tore it down, it was the people, brick by brick.

Reagan was a cheerleader, he helped things along, but was not in the game.

[dnb310]

04:34 AM on 02/08/2011

I also place him at 3, after 1) Bush II, and 2) James Buchanan .

[gypsy508]

05:28 PM on 02/07/2011

Reagan wasn't there mentally for his second term which led to a shadow government running the country.

[LebronJeremy]

05:45 PM on 02/07/2011

His wife.

[Gunther Steinberg]

01:43 PM on 02/08/2011

When he was governor of California there was his "kitchen cabinet" in Los Angeles that set the agendas.
Holmes Tuttle and others were the big movers. He was generally run by others, with a few exceptions.

[fredgladys]

04:36 PM on 02/07/2011

Interesting blog about Reagan/Tea Party myths

http://idealistpropaganda.blogspot.com/2011/02/five-myths-about-ronald-reagans-legacy.html

[Reality now]

03:32 PM on 02/07/2011

The only things Ronald Reagan's name should EVER be put on are soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Reaganomics is a complete and utter failure and the worst thing that ever happened to the Economy of the United States. Only the wealthy will try to keep shamming us about this guy.