Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 to John and Nelle Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. As a child his family moved around a lot each time for a new perspective job for his father. At the age of 9 his family moved to Dixon, IL this was heaven for Reagan because it was ten times larger than Tampico. His mother was a part of a group called the “readings” they would memorize humors or dramatic passages from famous poets, plays, books, and speeches for an audience. She helped him memorize a short speech that he gave during one of the “readings” shows. People laughed and applauded, something that just made Reagan so joyous. He liked the approval; this was the first time he had given a speech to a large audience.
Reagan attended high school at Dixon High School. He played football his junior and senior year of school. He also had a job as a lifeguard at the YMCA at Lowell Park. He had an English teacher that taught him some things about acting that stuck with him for the rest of his life. He also began to write for the purpose of entertaining people. Throughout high school Reagan became extremely involved in Student Theater. He said the theater helped him to be able to put himself in someone else’s shoes.
Reagan then went to Eureka College where he majored in economics. Reagan was said to be “majoring in extracurricular activities” because he put so much focus on them. He graduated in 1932 with the question what do I do with the rest of my life? He thought he wanted to be an actor. He went to Chicago where he started to broadcast on the radio, he did a few high school football games, and he then became a disk jockey at a local radio station. At twenty-two he achieved his dream of becoming a sports announcer. He was earning substantial money and was becoming more famous and was being invited to speaking engagements to earn extra income. Reagan then started broadcasting for the Cub’s games, which then brought him to LA where the cubs were having a...