Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, to Nelle and John Reagan. He attended high school in Dixon, worked his way through Eureka College, studied economics and sociology, played football, and acted in school plays. After graduating, he became a radio sports announcer, and a 1937 screen test brought him 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 re-elected 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 carried the Republican ticket into office, and Reagan defeated President Jimmy Carter by 489 electoral votes to 49. Working with Congress, he obtained legislation aimed at stimulating economic growth, curbing inflation, increasing employment, and strengthening national defense. He pursued tax cuts and reductions in government spending and did not change course when defense buildups led to 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, Reagan secured an overhaul of the income tax code that eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of low-income people. At the end of his administration, the nation was in its second longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression. In 1994, Reagan announced that he had Alzheimer's Disease, then spent the next ten years in seclusion and declining health until his death in 2004.