Cameron Ganter

Public Speaking

Ronal Reagan Speech

10/16/15
The Great Communicator
You probably know a few things about the man who told Mr. Gorbachev
to tear down a wall. Or the man who survived an attempted assassination.
But you might not have known that the same man who did these memorable
things starred in many movies including one titled Bedtime for Bonzo.
Many people know about Ronald Reagans presidency but not many know
about his childhood and early adulthood, his acting career and his lead to
presidency.
Growing up Reagan was a part of a family of four, when his brother was
born, his father forced him into the Roman Catholic belief. When Reagan was
born his mother demanded he follow her belief and become a Presbyterian.
At birth Reagan was a large baby and this reminded his father of a large
Dutch man, so Reagan was named Dutch. Dutch played football all his
childhood and was eventually granted a scholarship from Eureka College to
play football. Dutch did not study hard and barely passed. His college dorm
roommate later told the story that Reagan did not put much time into
studying he could read a book once and was able to pass, which angered his
roommate greatly, and even made him jealous. Reagan did many extracurricular activities. One of Reagans favorite activities was to perform in the
schools drama productions. Reagan was also a cheerleader. When Dutch
graduated college it was in the middle of the great depression. While getting
a job out of college is already hard enough, this made the job search nearly
impossible. Reagan decided he would try to find a job as a sports
broadcaster, he could not think of a better job, he would be getting paid to
watch sports. After many failed attempts at a job Dutch eventually was hired
at WHO and made $90 a week. Getting hired here was not an easy task. On
the day of his audition Reagan was immediately turned down, enraged by
this Reagan convinced the interviewer to give him a chance. The interviewer
told Reagan to announce for him, right on the spot. This took much
imagination from Reagan, finally he decided to announce his most exciting
game from his college years. Reagans words lit up the room and the
interviewer offered him a job on the spot.
After Reagan had been broadcasting for many years, he decided it was
time to move on to better things. Reagan decided to move into the field of
acting. He was lucky enough to have a friend who was an actress, Joy
Hodges who introduced him to her agent. Reagan then auditioned for
Warner Brothers. When Reagan auditioned, the agent knew that he

possessed a raw talent. After Reagan shot his audition tape, he shocked the
agent and the owner of Warner Brothers by telling them that he would have
to return home to his job. This unlikely tactic gave the owner very little time
to think so he quickly hired him. The owner of Warner Brothers did not like
the sound of the name Dutch Reagan, so he changed it to Ronald Reagan, as
we know him today. Ronald began his career on July 1st 1937. The first film
he starred in was Love is on the air. In this movie he played the part of a
radio announcer which made a very comfortable first performance for him
and he was critically acclaimed for his acting genius. He made 8 movies in
1938 and met Jane Wyman whom he eventually married. Ronald received
his first part in an A-role movie in 1940. He played a football star from Notre
Dame, George Gipp, in the movie Knute Rockne All American. Reagan
continued to make these movies. His most critically acclaimed movie came
in 1940, with his performance in Kings Row.
Reagans acting career was cut short due to World War II. However
even in serving the war he worked as an actor in recruitment films. Once the
war was over, Reagan became the president of the SAG or the Screen Actors
Guild. His acting career was on the path of steady decline while the U.S.
entered the cold war with the Soviet Union. He was later recruited by the FBI
to report workers in the acting industry who he thought to be communists.
Reagan worked for five years and reported ten people. These ten were
known as the Hollywood Ten. They were sent to prison for one year and
fined $1,000, these ten were also blacklisted, or prevented from getting a
job. In 1966 Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy as the governor of
California. Even though he was raised a democratic by his father, he ran as
a republican. The current governor of California, Pat Brown, did not see a
once Hollywood actor as much competition. Brown had run in 1960 as a
presidential candidate but lost to Kennedy. Reagan beat his running mate 2to-1, he gained a lot of support after a debate where he let the audience ask
him questions. Reagan served as the governor of California for 2 terms.
Reagan didnt run for his third term and was book-ended by Pat Browns son.
Reagan eventually decided to run for president. Reagan ran as a republican
in the 1980 election, even though the Republican Party was at its lowest
point at the time. Only 18% of voters identified themselves as republicans.
George Bush withdrew from the running, putting Reagan up against Carter in
1980. Ronald Reagan won the election to become the 40th president of the
United States. In his presidency he performed many memorable acts
including his speech on the removal of the Berlin Wall and his response to
the challenger mission. Reagan also survived an attempted assassination
and served two terms. He would eventually die of Alzheimer's.

While you may have known these things about Ronald Reagan, you
may not have known about the man Dutch Reagan. Reagan lived a life of a
leader from his life before acting, his acting career, and his political career.
Reagan had a large impact on everyone that he met and was able to inflict
his opinions on them well. This truly made Ronald Reagan the Great
Communicator.