OAN Staff Sophia Flores
6:37 PM – Thursday, February 6, 2025
47th President Donald Trump has officially added a portrait of 40th President Ronald Reagan to the Oval Office — presumably commemorating the now-deceased former GOP president’s birthday, February 6th.
On X, Dan Scavino, the deputy chief of staff in Donald Trump’s administration, shared the news that President Trump had added a portrait of former President Reagan to the Oval Office.
Thursday was Reagan’s 114th birthday.
The White House shared a message to commemorate the former GOP commander- in-chief.
“Today we celebrate the birthday of Ronald Reagan—a giant of American history, a lion of freedom and liberty, and the 40th President of the United States,” the letter began.
“In 1980, Reagan’s common sense political vision propelled him to the Oval Office, ushering in a new era of prosperity and peace at home and abroad. The Reagan Revolution was underway. Throughout his eight years as Commander-in-Chief, the economy boomed, confidence soared, Communism collapsed, and faith in our Nation’s promise thrived and flourished like never before—signaling a renaissance of the American conservative movement.”
“As we honor President Reagan’s life and legendary contributions to our Nation, we recognize that we are in the midst of another political revolution. Last year, the American People loudly rejected the politics of bitterness and betrayal—and launched a new and triumphant era of renewal and reform. Every day, my Administration is reminding the world once again that America is its own Nation with its own borders, its own culture, its own customs, and its own heritage—and that the American People will never waver in defending their glorious inheritance of Freedom.”
“Today, we honor President Reagan’s legacy—bringing common sense back to Washington and fortifying the causes of prosperity, safety, security, and peace that he cherished so deeply. As we enter America’s Golden Age, we remember the indelible mark President Reagan left on our Nation, and we commit to carrying the torch of Liberty and Justice for generations to come.”
“Happy birthday, President Reagan!”
Trump has been a longtime supporter of the 40th president.
Trump modeled his famous campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” after Reagan, whose own famous campaign slogan was “Let’s Make America Great Again” — during his 1980 presidential campaign.
During his 8 years in office, Reagan was a president “for all Americans,” according to political historians.
Reagan is remembered, not only as a Hollywood actor, but also for his optimism and for uplighting modern-day conservatism. He is also remembered for having an unwavering love for his country.
During his time as president, he accomplished many objectives to fulfill his goal of making America “great again.”
Reagan dropped inflation from a high of 13.5% to 4.6% in his first term, appointed three Associate Justices to the Supreme Court, advanced domestic policies, strengthened the military by increasing defense spending, ended the 1981 Air Traffic Controllers’ Strike, proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, and created “Reaganomics.”
Reaganomics is the economic policy he created which focused on tax cuts, deregulation, and reducing government spending — in order to promote economic growth.
Reagan was born into poverty on February 6th, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. He went to university at Eureka College. In 1933, the year after he graduated, he was also hired to become a sports broadcaster in Iowa. In 1937, Reagan moved to California in order to pursue an acting career.
In the middle of his successful acting career, Reagan was appointed as the president of the Screen Actors Guild twice, from 1947 to 1952, and again from 1959 to 1960. It was during that time that he met his wife, Nancy Davis.
The future first couple met when Davis, an actress, got in touch and set up a meeting with the president of the Actors Screen Guild, Reagan, to discuss her name being on the Hollywood blacklist. As president of the association, Reagan helped her with the issue and removed her name from the list — as her name had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis.
The couple married in 1952 and had two children together.
Additionally, Reagan had two children from his previous marriage with actress Jane Wyman.
In 1966, Reagan broke into the world for politics by announcing his candidacy to be the next governor of California. He beat the incumbent, Democrat Pat Brown, with 57% of the vote — compared to Brown’s 42%.
While governor of The Golden State from 1967 until 1975, he “championed economic freedom, smaller government, fewer regulations, and lower taxes.”
“I am not a politician. I am an ordinary citizen with a deep-seated belief that much of what troubles us has been brought about by politicians,” Reagan stated.
Reagan ran twice unsuccessfully to be the Republican Presidential nominee in 1968 and 1976. However, four years later he won the nomination and later won the presidency. He was the oldest president sworn in at the time of his inauguration. He was 69 years and 349 days old.
During his run for re-election, Reagan defeated former Vice President Walter Monday in the largest electoral college landslide in American history — 525 electoral votes to Mondale’s 13 votes. The Republican also won the popular vote.
Similar to Trump, the now-deceased former president also faced an assassination attempt. He was shot and wounded by a man named John Hinckley Jr., while in Washington, D.C.
Hinckley Jr. had fired his .22 caliber revolver with “devastator” bullets at the President and his security team, according to the Reagan Library.
While it was stated that he was “right on the margin of death” when he arrived at George Washington Hospital, the 40th president underwent emergency surgery and luckily only suffered a broken rib, a punctured lung, and some internal bleeding.
Following the assassination attempt, Reagan believed that God spared his life “for a chosen mission.” Similarly, Trump said he “felt very safe,” after being shot in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, “because I had God on my side.”
When he left office in 1989, Reagan held an approval of 68%.
According to a Gallup survey, published earlier this year, Reagan was ranked as the second-best president in U.S. history, trailing former Democrat President John F. Kennedy (JFK).
Regan was also the only Republican president from that survey that was ranked positively among Democrats.
Sadly, in 1994, the former president announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a year prior.
Some years after, Reagan passed away while at his residence on June 5, 2004. He was 93-years-old.
He was buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
