Ronald Reagan Signed Photograph.

Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911–2004), the fortieth President of the United States, served two terms from January 1981 to January 1989 and left behind one of the most consequential and debated presidential legacies of the twentieth century — a tenure defined by the supply-side economic program known as Reaganomics, the largest peacetime military buildup in American history, a decisive acceleration of the Cold War that contributed substantially to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and a rhetorical optimism about American greatness and democratic values that reshaped the terms of national political discourse for a generation. Born in Tampico, Illinois, and educated at Eureka College, Reagan pursued careers as a radio broadcaster, Hollywood actor in more than fifty films, president of the Screen Actors Guild, and television host before entering politics as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and subsequently winning the presidency in a landslide over incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, located in Simi Valley, California, and dedicated in November 1991 in the presence of all five living former presidents at the time, is the largest of the presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, encompassing approximately 100 acres and housing more than fifty million pages of gubernatorial and presidential documents, 1.6 million photographs, and more than half a million feet of motion picture film and videotape. The library also serves as the final resting place of both President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan, whose grave sites overlook the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean in a setting of considerable natural beauty. Since its opening the library has hosted numerous presidential debates and major public events, and its Air Force One Pavilion, which displays the Boeing VC-137C SAM 28000 that served as the president's primary aircraft throughout his administration, remains one of the most visited exhibits in any presidential library in the country.