Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States, serving two terms from 1981 to 1989. Reagan began his career as an actor, appearing in over fifty films from 1937 to 1964 while also serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild. After delivering a famous speech called A Time for Choosing in favor of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, Reagan began a political career and served as the Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. For more information on Reagan's varied life and careers, listen to the audiobook of his autobiography, An American Life, read by Ronald Reagan himself and available on audio download. For even further insight into the mind of President Reagan, you can listen to Reagan in His Own Voice available on audio download, a compilation of Reagan's best radio addresses pulled from over 1,000 daily radio broadcasts he delivered from 1975 to 1979.
As president, Reagan served during the end of the Cold War, one of the most tumultuous and controversial times in modern American history. Partially due to his experience as an actor, Reagan had an unparalleled ability to connect with the American public and was known to many as "The Great Communicator." Many of his great speeches can be heard on the two-volume set, Ronald Reagan: The Great Speeches Vol. 1 and Ronald Reagan: The Great Speeches Vol. 2, which are both available on audio download on LearnOutLoud.com. You can also browse many speeches delivered by Ronald Reagan that are available online for free on audio & video and that we have collected here.