John Edward Reagan (July 13, 1883 – May 18, 1941) was the father of Ronald Reagan,

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

, who served as the 33rd

governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, t ...

and 40th

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and radio station manager Neil Reagan.

Ancestry

Jack's paternal grandfather, Michael O'Regan, was a native of

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named afte ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. O'Regan worked as a tenant farmer during his early years in Ireland, before he moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1852. Whilst living there, O'Regan married an Irish refugee named Catherine Mulcahey, and anglicised his family surname to "Reagan". The couple emigrated to Carroll County, Illinois in 1856.Gullan (2001), p. 320 John Michael, their son, became a grain-elevator farmer, and married Jenny Cusick in 1878. Cusick was born in Canada, but like John Michael, her parents came from Ireland. Their son, John Edward "Jack", was born five years later.

Life and career

At the time of his second son Ronald's birth in 1911, Jack was working at a store in

Tampico, Illinois Tampico () is a village located in Tampico Township, Whiteside County, Illinois, United States next to Rock Falls and Sterling, Illinois. As of the 2010 census the village had a total population of 790, up from 772 at the 2000 census. It is know ...

. He went on to work as a traveling salesman during Ronald's childhood. Politically, he was a populist Democrat, supporting economically progressive policies such as financial support for the working poor, trust-busting,

child labor laws Child labour laws are statutes placing restrictions and regulations on the work of minors. Child labour increased during the Industrial Revolution due to the children's abilities to access smaller spaces and the ability to pay children less wages ...

, a

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...

, and progressive taxation. From his Irish heritage he inherited a dislike of the

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. He was a keen supporter of the United States' involvement in World War I and attempted to enlist. He was strongly opposed to the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Ca ...

due to his Catholic heritage, but also due to the Klan's

anti-semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

and anti-black

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

. He died on May 19, 1941, at the age of 57 after a series of heart attacks, but may have survived if a nearby ambulance had been allowed to cross out of their service territory. In later years, this motivated his son Ronald Reagan to sign into law an act allowing the

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program to start.

References

General * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reagan, Nelle Wilson 1883 births 1941 deaths American people of Irish descent Ronald Reagan Reagan family People from Fulton, Illinois People from Lee County, Illinois Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles) California Democrats Illinois Democrats Works Progress Administration workers Fathers of presidents of the United States People from Tampico, Illinois Catholics from Illinois pl:John Reagan

Ancestry

Life and career

See also

References