Ronald Reagan was president of the United States.
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty . Signed in Washington , D.C. by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on 8 December 1987 , the treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on 27 May 1988 and came into force on 1 June 1988 . Reaganomics ( [ reɪgəˈnɒmɪks ] a portmanteau of [ Ronald ] Reagan and economics attributed to Paul Harvey ) refers to the economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s . Ronald Wilson Reagan ( [ ˈrɒnəld_ˈwɪlsən_ˈreɪɡən ] ) ( February 6 , 1911 -- June 5 , 2004 ) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 . He twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency in 1968 and 1976 ; four years later , he easily won the nomination outright , becoming the oldest elected U.S. president up to that time , defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980 .