Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, to Nelle and John Reagan. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and worked his way through Eureka College, where he studied economics and sociology, played football, and acted in school plays. After graduating, he became a radio sports announcer, and a screen test in 1937 led to a Hollywood contract. Over the next two decades, he appeared in 53 films. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he became involved in disputes over Communism in the film industry, and his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. He later toured the country as a television host and became a spokesman for conservatism. In 1966, he was elected Governor of California by a margin of a million votes and was reelected in 1970. In 1980, he won the Republican presidential nomination and chose former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush as his running mate. Voters troubled by inflation and the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office, and he defeated President Jimmy Carter by 489 electoral votes to 48. Working with Congress, he secured legislation intended to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He pursued tax cuts and reductions in government expenditures and did not depart from that course when defense buildup produced a large deficit. By 1984, renewed national self-confidence helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes over Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. In 1986, he secured an overhaul of the income tax code that eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the nation was experiencing its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression. In 1994, Reagan announced that he had Alzheimer's Disease, and he spent the next ten years in seclusion and declining health until his death in 2004.