Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan (/ˈrɒnəld ˈwɪlsən ˈreɪɡən/; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor, who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, following a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader.

Raised in a poor family in small towns of Northern Illinois, Ronald Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a sports announcer on several regional radio stations. After moving to Hollywood in 1937, he became an actor and starred in a few major productions. Reagan was twice elected as President of the Screen Actors Guild, the labor union for actors, where he worked to root out Communist influence. In the 1950s, he moved into television and was a motivational speaker at General Electric factories. Having been a lifelong liberal Democrat, his views changed. He became a conservative and in 1962 switched to the Republican Party. In 1964, Reagan's speech, "A Time for Choosing," in support of Barry Goldwater's floundering presidential campaign, earned him national attention as a new conservative spokesman. Building a network of supporters, he was elected Governor of California in 1966. As governor, Reagan raised taxes, turned a state budget deficit to a surplus, challenged the protesters at the University of California, ordered National Guard troops in during a period of protest movements in 1969, and was re-elected in 1970. He twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nominations in 1968 and 1976; four years later, he easily won the nomination outright, going on to be elected the oldest President, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Reagan (surname)

Reagan is an Irish surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Reagan (film)

Reagan is a 2011 American documentary film, written & directed by Eugene Jarecki, covering the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Reception

It was reviewed favorably by New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, who wrote, "Mr. Jarecki’s documentary does a first-rate job of respectfully separating the real from the mythical, the significant from the nonsense."

References

External links

WDM

WDM may refer to:

People

Indian locomotive class WDM-2

The class WDM-2 is Indian Railways' workhorse diesel locomotive. The first units were imported fully built from the American Locomotive Company (Alco) in 1962. Since 1964, it has been manufactured in India by the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), diesel (D), mixed traffic (M) engine. The WDM-2 is the most common diesel locomotive of Indian Railways.

The WDM-2A is a variant of the original WDM-2. These units have been retro-fitted with air brakes, in addition to the original vacuum brakes. The WDM-2B is a more recent locomotive, built with air brakes as original equipment. The WDM-2 locos have a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph), restricted to 100 km/h (62 mph) when run long hood forward - the gear ratio is 65:18.

History

In the early 1960s Indian Railways began conversion of its mainline from steam to diesel locomotives. For this conversion General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) and the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) were asked to submit designs for new diesel locomotives. Each company submitted prototypes. Indian Railways designated these prototypes the WDM-4 class and the WDM-2 class respectively. Technologically the General Motors WDM-4 was superior to ALCO's WDM-2, but Indian Railways required a transfer of technology agreement that would allow these locomotives to be manufactured in India. General Motors did not agree to the transfer of technology agreement so the ALCO prototype was selected for production. The first few prototype WDM-2s were imported. After Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) completed construction of its factory in Varanasi, production of the locomotives began in India. The first 12 locos were built using kits imported from ALCO in the United States. After that DLW started manufacturing the WDM-2 locomotives from their own components. Since then over 2,800 locomotives have been manufactured and the WDM-2 has become the most popular locomotive in India.