Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1911 - 2004 Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911. He worked his way through Eureka College, where he studied economics and sociology. After graduation, he became a radio sports announcer for WOC, a small radio station in Davenport, Iowa. Reagan enlisted in the Army Reserve. An agent for Warner Brothers "discovered" him in Los Angeles in 1937 and offered him a seven-year contract. He played George Gipp in his most acclaimed film, "Knute Rockne -- All American" in 1940. In 1942, the Army Air Force called him to active duty and assigned him to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California, where he made over 400 training films. On December 9, 1945, he was discharged. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he became embroiled in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry and his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. He toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for conservatism. In 1966, he was elected Governor of California and was re-elected in 1970. For several months after his gubernatorial term ended in 1974, he wrote a syndicated newspaper column and provided commentaries on radio stations across the country. On November 20, 1975, Reagan announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. He lost the party's nomination, but his showing laid the groundwork for the 1980 election. After winning the party's nomination in 1980, he chose George Bush as his running mate. Reagan won the election and was President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression. In 1994, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He died on June 5, 2004. (Bowker Author Biography)

Nancy Davis was born on July 6, 1921, in New York City. She was raised in Chicago, and graduated from the Girls' Latin School before going on to Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she graduated in 1943. In her early career, Nancy Davis worked as an actress in stage, film, and television productions. Her stage performances ranged from summer stock to road tours to Broadway. In 1949, she was signed to a seven-year contract with MGM. She made eleven films in all. Her last film, at Columbia in 1956, was "Hellcats of the Navy," in which she and her husband appeared in together. After her husband became Governor of California in 1967, Mrs. Reagan began visiting wounded Vietnam veterans and became active in projects concerning POWs and servicemen missing in action. During the war, she wrote a syndicated column, donating her salary to the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Action in Southeast Asia. While First Lady of California, Mrs. Reagan made regular visits to hospitals and homes for the elderly, as well as schools for physically and emotionally handicapped children. During one of these hospital visits in 1967, she observed participants in the Foster Grandparent Program, and soon became its champion. After Reagan was elected President, as First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Reagan continued to help expand the Foster Grandparent Program on a national level and promote private funding in local communities. With Jane Wilkie, she co-authored a book, "To Love a Child." Mrs. Reagan's special project, as First Lady, was fighting drug and alcohol abuse among youth. She has appeared on television talk shows, taped public service announcements, written guest articles, and visited prevention programs and rehabilitation centers across the country. In April 1985 Mrs. Reagan expanded her drug awareness campaign by inviting First Ladies from around the world to attend a two-day briefing in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia, on the subject of youth drug abuse. During the 40th Anniversary of The United Nations in 1985, Mrs. Reagan hosted 30 First Ladies for a second international drug conference. She was also the first American First Lady to address the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose meeting she attended in October 1988. In each Annual Gallup Poll from 1981 to 1989, the American public voted Mrs. Reagan one of the ten most admired women in the world, and in 1981, 1985, and 1987, she was voted number one. Every year since 1981, she has been named one of the ten most admired women in the world by readers of Good Housekeeping magazine, and in 1984, 1985, and 1986 she ranked number one in that poll. After leaving the White House on January 20, 1989, Mrs. Reagan established the Nancy Reagan Foundation to continue her campaign to educate people about the serious dangers of substance abuse. In 1994, the Nancy Reagan Foundation joined forces with the BEST Foundation For A Drug-Free Tomorrow and developed the Nancy Reagan Afterschool Program, a drug prevention and life-skills program for youth. Mrs. Reagan continued to travel domestically and internationally, speaking out on the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol. In October of 1989 Mrs. Reagan's memoirs, entitled "My Turn," were published by Random House. Mrs. Reagan has devoted her time to projects related to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, where she serves on the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to developing and fostering President Reagan's Four Pillars of Freedom. In addition, Mrs. Reagan is actively involved with the national Alzheimer's Association and its affiliate, the Ronald & Nancy Reagan Research Institute in Chicago, Illinois. (Bowker Author Biography)