Showing posts with label American President. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American President. Show all posts

Monday, February 18, 2013

Presidents' Day was originally called "Washington's Birthday"


"PRESIDENTS' DAY" was originally called "WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY", a federal holiday that began in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington. This was the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen and is still called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Traditionally, Presidents’ Day was celebrated on February 22; Washington’s actual birthday.

On January 1, 1971, the federal holiday changed to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, as an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.
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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Ronald Reagan --> 10 Fun Facts!

When I was very young, I remember telling my grandmother that she looked like Ronald Reagan.  This probably wasn't the smartest thing to say, but in the mind of a 7 year old, I really thought she resembled the American President.  My grandma was good at keeping her cool, but not this time; a few colorful words accidentally came out that day.  She wasn't angry about the fact that I thought  she resembled a man, she was angry because she didn't like him. On the contrary, I admired him, and so did the majority of the American people, and here's why:
       
  1. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. As a baby, he was nicknamed "Dutch" by his father, because he resembled a little fat dutch man. 
  2. In High School he was a life guard, played football and acted in school plays.
  3. Reagan was educated at Eureka College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Sociology.
  4. Reagan moved first to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then, in 1937, to Los Angeles where he began a career as an actor, first in films and later television. During the next 2 decades, he appeared in 53 films.
  5. In 1940, he married his first wife;  actress Jane Wyman. They had three children, Maureen, Christine (who died shortly after birth) and Michael. They divorced in 1949. In 1952, he married Nancy Davis, who was also an actress, and they had two children, Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.  Ronald Reagan  is the only US president to have been divorced.
  6. In 1962 he switched from Democrat to Republican, and on January 2, 1967 he was elected 33rd Governor of California by a margin of a million votes; he was re-elected in 1970.
  7. Reagan became the 40th President of the United States of America on  January 20, 1981,  Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.
  8. After winning his second term in office and by the end of his administration, the nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.  Despite the ongoing debates, Reagan has ranked among the most popular of all modern U.S. presidents in public opinion polls.
  9. Reagan died of pneumonia, brought on by Alzheimer's disease at his home in Bel Air, California on the afternoon of June 5, 2004. He is buried in the  Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library in  Simi Valley, Ventura County, California, USA
  10. In 2010, Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 944, to make every February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in California.
Ronald Reagan Quotes:
"All great change in America begins at the dinner table". - Ronald Reagan

"But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret." - Ronald Reagan

"Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known." - Ronald Reagan

"Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States." -Ronald Reagan

"If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."  - Ronald Reagan

"Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face." -Ronald Reagan

"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." - Ronald Reagan

"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress." - Ronald Reagan

"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer."  - Ronald Reagan

"I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and that there is purpose and worth to each and every life."  -Ronald Reagan
(Found  inscribed at h is burial site. T he words he delivered at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library) 

"I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease... At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done... I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you." -Ronald Reagan (his written letter to America when he found out he had Alzheimer's disease at the age of 83)
Click here to view Ronald Reagan's Online Memorial!


Citations:    www.biography.com,  www.whitehouse.gov,  www.brainyquotes.com, www.wikipedia.org
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